Amor Vincit Omnia
by dr. kitten
Summary: Darkness is coming. The land is blighted. Armies of Hell pour forth from the bowels of the earth. A star falls from the heavens. And a chance meeting between two lost souls sparks the fire that will either quell the inferno, or engulf the world in flames. Follows Diablo 3 storyline. F. Monk/M. Demon Hunter romance. Rated T, some chapters will be M-rated.
1. 1 - A Chance Meeting

**Amor Vincit Omnia**

**(Love Conquers All)**

**Hello, Readers! Just a quick note by me, the Author, to let you know that I will be updating this story on a fairly reasonable schedule (hopefully several times a week, certainly not less than one). I hope you enjoy this little foray into the imagination! This story begins shortly before the heroes reach New Tristram and will continue to the end of the game and beyond. I'm sticking to canon as far as story events go, but I'm not afraid to take a few liberties with the individual characters. That's the whole point of an RPG, right? Anyway, thanks for reading and if you like it, please review!  
**

Chapter One: A Fateful Meeting

The day was waning into dusk, and the last rays of the dying sun lit the kindled the surface of the river into diamond fire. The sky was clear of clouds, and a lingering breeze tinged the air with the scent of primroses and lilac. Saiya unbuckled her heavy pack and set it gratefully down in the shade of a massive elm tree dipping its roots into the river shallows. This, she thought, was as good a place as any to make camp, cook some food, and perhaps have a bath to wash off the dust of the trail.

It had been a week since her last sight of civilization, but Saiya was not concerned. She had rationed the rice to last a fortnight, and at this time of year berries and tubers were plentiful in the rich woodland, the birds were laying eggs, and fish frolicked in every available water source. No, she would not starve.

Predators were a larger concern. In the village she'd recently left, there were disturbing rumors of half-eaten corpses found on the road, and livestock missing from the fields. Wolves, some said, grown bold from a lean winter in the mountains. Rogue soldiers, whispered others, fleeing from war in the east and falling into a life rape, murder, and pillage. A few even blamed demons for the destruction. Saiya did not care which of these theories was true, or even if any of them were. She had yet to encounter anything more threatening than a fox, stealing off with the treasures of a remote farm.

As Saiya surveyed the landscape, searching for the best place to lay her bedroll, her stomach rumbled. With a grimace, she counted the hours since her last meal and realized that she'd forgotten lunch again. Hunger spurred her to haste as she gathered dry sticks and build a fire on the sandy bank and started the rice boiling, adding a double portion so she would have enough for breakfast as well. She wrapped new potatoes in leaves and set them in the coals to bake, and harvested some sun-ripened blackberries from a nearby bramble patch for dessert.

With dinner in the making, her next priority was to get clean. Stripping down to her underclothes (a lifelong habit of keeping the minimal cover when bathing, developed by a childhood in the company of the monks) she waded into the water. It was much colder than expected, and within moments she was covered in goosebumps and shaking like a leaf. Steeling herself, she took a deep breath and submerged, staying down for as long as she could before surfacing in a rush of water and pent-up breath. She ran her hands through her cap of white-blonde hair, making it stand up in little clumps. With her boyish hairstyle, flat chest, low voice, and long, lithe, muscular figure, she was often mistaken for male: an error which she did nothing to rectify. Even when her correct gender was divined, men rarely pursued her. If they did, they quickly learned not to. A punch in the face from a hand wearing brass knuckles, or a strike in the groin from a kneecap made hard by practice was an experience likely to discourage even the most desperate of louts.

Saiya floated on her back for some minutes, happily drifting with the current and focusing on her breathing. Then she swam powerfully upstream to a small waterfall from a tributary that joined the larger river. Sitting crosslegged on a damp rock with the icy water pounding against her skull and running in rivulets down her back and between her breasts, she rested her hands on her knees, palms upward, and prepared herself for her daily meditation.

_Relax … the cold does not exist … the ache in your bones does not exist …_ _you as an individual do not exist … you are not Saiya, Foundling Child of the Temple of the High Sun … you are merely another spring feeding into the great river, which in turn runs to the indefinite sea, which is the source of all life. _

The familiar feeling of peace washed over her, a sense of unity with the world around her, of belonging. She was aware of each and every living being, a vast teeming ecosystem from the tadpoles playing at her feet to the ferns draping down over her head to the lone eagle wheeling a hundred feet above. She knew them all and accepted them all and was in turn accepted by them. She need have no fear, for all of nature was her inner sanctum, her holy temple, her place of prayer.

A new life force entered her range of awareness. With her mind's eye she saw it: a foreign influence, a jarring sensation of 'wrong'. This newcomer was no child of nature. She felt a menacing darkness, a harsh stinging stench of blood and steel and hate. Alarm jolted her out of her deep calm; her eyes flew open. She could hear nothing over the rushing of the waterfall, but she could _feel _the source of the wrongness, right above her, poised to strike. She was suddenly conscious of her near nudity, and the brass knuckles sitting uselessly in her pack on the far side of the river. She selected two smooth stones that fit comfortably in her fists and would not cut her palms from the impact of striking, and crouched, balanced like a cat on the wet stone, ready to fight.

With a wild yell, the _whatever-it-was _leaped down from above, a blur of tan and black, and broke the river with a great splash. Bubbles rushed to the surface as the creature sank down, but Saiya could not determine its shape under the roiling, frothing water. Then she saw it rapidly ascending again, and she tensed up. As soon as the head emerged she lashed out, landing a firm blow with the stone. She had a momentary impression of a pair of dark eyes – wide with surprise, pain … and just a hint of reproach – before they rolled upwards to expose the whites and closed in unconsciousness. The creature dropped briefly under and then bobbed up again, face-down, floating downstream at a decent clip. Hairless limbs connected to a torso in an entirely human way. A cloud of dark hair fanned out around the head. No horns, no tail, no demonic indicators of any variety.

Three facts passed through Saiya's brain at the speed of light and left her dazed.

The 'creature' she had attacked was a man.

He was as naked as the day he was born.

He was, at present, in mortal danger of drowning.

It was the third fact that forced her body into action while her mind was still reeling with the realization of what she had done. Whatever the cause of the dark energy she had felt, this man, this fellow human being, might shortly be dead and if he was, it would be her fault. She plunged into the river after him, rolled him over so he could breath, held his head above the water as she swam to shore.

Saiya dragged the man up onto the sandy bank beside the fire, restricting her eyes to his face and upper body to preserve his modesty as much as possible. The rest of him she hastily covered with her blanket. She checked his breathing (deep and steady), his heartbeat (regular), and his eyes (still rolled back). There didn't seem to be any immediate cause for concern there. There was a painful lump growing on the top of his head, but no bleeding. She made him as warm and comfortable as she could and turned her attention to her dinner, which was beginning to show signs of overcooking.

When the man had not awakened after ten minutes elapsed, Saiya shrugged and began to eat. Between bites, she scrutinized her unintended victim, trying to fathom what sort of person he might be. He was young, at a guess barely older than herself, which would put him in his early-to-mid twenties. Black hair slightly longer than her own and loose about his head. It was currently slicked back by water, revealing a fine-boned face with smooth skin darker than that of most of the occupants of this northern land. Large eyes hidden beneath lids capped with long lashes that fluttered delicately. A sharp nose, straight and narrow brows, high cheekbones, thin and sensitive lips – the bottom fuller than the top. His jawline was covered with a sparse growth of beard probably half a week old. His muscular development suggested that he was not a stranger to combat, and his hands and feet were rough and callused, but he did not have the scars of a hardened warrior. The only personal effect he wore was a silver ring on his pinky finger, set with a red stone. The outside edge of the ring was blackened as though it had been scorched by some infernal fire.

As the minutes passed, Saiya's curiosity grew unbearable. She had never seen anyone quite like this before. The only men she had ever been within two feet of were the old and venerable temple monks, with their bald heads and bushy beards and voices that could never be stern enough to conceal the kindness in their eyes. Not one of them was under sixty, and the eldest had lost count of his years at one hundred and three.

Dusk had surrendered to the full darkness of night by the time the stranger stirred. At first he rolled onto his side, facing the fire, and uttered a long groan. Then his eyes flickered open, staring blankly into the flames for a long moment. Saiya, sitting off to the side out of his line of sight, thought it better not to speak lest she startle him.

When he finally moved, it was with a speed that astonished her. One moment he was lying stretched out under the blanket, and the next _she _was flat on her back with a heavy weight crushing down on her, an iron hand squeezing her throat, and a face set in a threatening snarl inches from her own. His narrowed black gaze pierced through her, and the sharp puffs of breath from his nose ghosted across her cheek.

"Who the hell are you?" he gritted out, baring his teeth. The canines were abnormally sharp, almost fangs. There was something predatory about them, and about the set of his eyes. Glaring down at her, he looked like a wild beast on the hunt.

"Not - your - enemy," Saiya choked out. Confusion crossed the man's face, and the pressure of his fingers eased ever so slightly. Saiya's chest heaved as she drew in badly needed air.

"A woman?" he wondered aloud. Saiya would have snorted if she was not in such a poor position. If he thought she was weak purely because she was female, he had a lesson coming.

"If you're not an enemy, why did you attack me?" he demanded, still growling.

"You - startled - me … I was medi - tating under - the waterfall … could you - let me _go - _please? Can't - breathe …"

He didn't respond right away, apparently carefully considering his options. Finally he released her and retreated to a less threatening distance, still maintaining his air of caution. He made no attempt to cover himself, however, and Saiya felt her face heat. She averted her eyes.

"So I startled you," he said after a minute. His voice – when he wasn't snarling – was surprising pleasant: not too deep, slightly accented, and layered with unexpected humor. "You were swimming in the river and I jumped down on you out of nowhere. I can see how knocking me out was a reasonable reaction, but still … you could have killed me."

"I didn't know what you were," Saiya said. "Once I realized you were human, I pulled you out."

"Oh, I see!" he said sarcastically. "So you're both my attempted murderer _and _my savior."

Saiya glared, but the man's eyes abruptly creased up and the corners of his mouth curled, showing his pointed canines. His shoulders shook silently. After a moment, Saiya realized he was laughing, and her own rigid posture relaxed slightly. It seemed that he'd forgotten his anger.

"I think we may have started out on the wrong foot," he said. "I scared you, and you clocked me on the head with a _boulder_, judging by the ache in my skull."

"You should be glad that I was only holding a rock," she replied. "Normally I prefer brass knuckles."

He winced and rubbed the lump at the crown of his head.

"My name is Saiya," she continued. "I am a stranger in these parts. I come from the mountains to the west."

"They call me Baal," he said. "Short for Baalzibal. I don't belong here either, but I hail from the opposite direction." He held out a hand, but Saiya did not reach out to take it. The name he gave had stirred something in her distant memory, and she was regarding him with suspicion.

"Baal," she said. "Isn't that the name of a-"

"Demon, yes." His eyes darkened and for a split second seemed almost to glow. It faded instantly and Saiya decided that it was just a trick of the firelight.

"Long story," he said. "You needn't look at me like I'm going to sprout wings and bite your head off. I'm as human as you are." He stood suddenly, and Saiya, confronted directly with what had so far been shielded from view by his leg, covered her eyes.

"Is that so?" she managed to say. "Is it your habit to run around the woods in the middle of the night without any, ah, _clothes_? Because no self-respecting humans that _I _know behave so indecently."

Baal laughed. "What, girl, were you raised in a monastery?"

"Actually, yes, I was."

"Really?"

She peeped out from between her fingers to scowl at him and instantly wished she had not. He was still proudly and unashamedly on display.

"Would you _please _wrap yourself in a blanket or something?" she begged. He did not reply, but there was a rustling sound.

"There," he said. "It's all right, you can look now. I won't offend your sensitive eyes."

Warily she removed her hands from her face, but he was speaking the truth. His dark eyes glimmered with laughter at her sigh of relief.

"You _are _just a child," he said. "Albeit a lanky, overgrown one."

Heat flooded her cheeks again, but it was fueled by anger rather than embarrassment. How _dare _he, a total stranger, be so _rude_? Lanky? Overgrown? A _child? _

"I'm twenty-one!" she snapped.

"Oh! A real grown-up lady!" he mocked, but there was no spite in his tone. Saiya fought to calm herself. What would the head monk say, she wondered, if he could see her now, flying into a rage over some petty insult by a man who she didn't even know. He would shake his head, she decided, and say in his slow, wise way, _"You have much yet to learn, little one. Someday. If the gods are merciful." _

No, rising to his bait was not the way to play this game. That would never earn his respect. She would have to give back as good as she got.

"And I suppose you're in your middle years already, good sir," she teased. "You seem so very _learned _in the ways of the world. You must be at least forty."

"I'm a good deal more learned than you, anyway," he shot back. "I'm not the one hiding my eyes like a proper little maiden."

"It's called 'modesty'," she said. "You might want to learn some … unless you find it a thrill to flaunt your masculinity to maidens."

"You might be surprised to learn that most of the time I am extremely modest and polite, especially in the company of the fairer sex," he said. "You happened to catch me at a bad moment. You see, I've been on the road all day and when I saw the river, I thought it would take the chance to bathe a bit, _privately, _in my own company. I was not expecting any maidens, let alone one with fists so fierce."

"Well," she said, unable to help a blush of pride at the complement. "I _was _trained by warrior monks. But I suppose I'll forgive you for your rude behavior if you'll forgive me for almost drowning you."

"It's a deal," he said. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to borrow your blanket for a few minutes while I ford the river again. I left all my belongings on the other side … among them the clothes that I would normally be wearing right now. I'll bring your blanket back when I am 'decent'."

"Alright," Saiya agreed. Baal nodded, looked at her a minute longer, and then rather brusquely turned and vanished into the darkness. In his absence, Saiya felt suddenly and unexpectedly lonely.


	2. 2 - Two Paths Converge

**Amor Vincit Omnia**

**(Love Conquers All)**

Chapter Two: Two Paths Converge

When Baal returned he materialized from the shadows as though born from them, with only the reddish glow of his eyes beneath his hood and the cold gleam of steel in the moonlight to differentiate him from the night. Saiya, though she had been watching, was startled. She understood now the nature of the menace she had first felt. This was no ordinary traveler.

"Why have you come here, to this land?" she asked as he dropped her blanket, neatly folded, on top of her bedroll.

Baal grinned, a savage show of teeth. "I hunt the one I am named for," he said, "along with all of his brethren."

"You fight against evil?"

"Yes."

Saiya remembered an old adage the head monk was fond of repeating: _Those who fight evil too long may at last become their own greatest enemy. _

"Dwell in the darkness to fight the darkness," she murmured, and wondered how far along the path of evil this man had already gone.

Baal smiled again. He said, "What of you, then? What is the quest of the Warrior Maiden?"

"I have no quest," she replied. "My teachers would have me learn the realities of life and hone my skill on enemies in the outside world, instead of the practice dummies in the monastery."

"Hmm," he reflected, nodding. "So you really were raised by monks? I thought you were joking."

"I never knew my parents," Saiya explained. "I was abandoned at the doors of the monastery when I was a wee babe just hours old."

Baal's eyes darkened with some hidden emotion; she could not begin to guess what. "Doesn't that make you angry?"

"What?"

"Your parents. Abandoning you. What kind of people would leave an infant to fend for itself?"

"They didn't leave to me fend for myself," Saiya shot back, incensed that he would be so quick to judge without knowing anything of her situation. "They left me at the monastery, where they knew I would be reared well and loved dearly. I'm sure that if they had been able they would have raised me themselves.

"Sounds like an excuse to me," he snorted.

There was a long moment of silence, broken only by the crackle and hiss of a branch breaking in the fire. Then Saiya said, "Believe what you will; I have chosen to make my peace with my parents' decision. I hope that someday I will meet them … and when I do, I will greet them joyfully."

She half-expected a scornful reply, but Baal only nodded. After another pregnant pause, Saiya asked, "Where are you headed?"

"New Tristram," he replied. "A town further up the river. There are rumors of demon attacks in the area after a falling star destroyed a cathedral and woke the dead."

"Is New Tristram the nearest settlement?" Saiya inquired. "I need to restock my supplies and do some repairs."

"There's Wortham this side of the river," said Baal, "but it's only a fishing village. If you have any serious business, you'll need to press on to New Tristram. The ferry can take you across."

"Then it looks like we'll be traveling in the same direction," said Saiya. "Perhaps we should stick together until we reach the town. If there truly are demons in the area, we'll be safer in each other's company."

"I can handle myself," said Baal instantly. Then, apparently thinking better of it, he added, "But you might have some problems. I suppose we can join forces, for now. Just don't slow me down. I break camp at dawn and travel until dark. And if we encounter any demons along the way, even if they're off the beaten path, I'll take my time to exterminate them. Leave even one of those bastards alive and they'll breed more."

"That suits me," Saiya replied. "How far to New Tristram?"

"Three days at my pace," he said. His eyes expressed doubts as the whether she'd be able to keep up, but he did not voice them.

"Well then," she said. "If we're to start early I want to get to sleep. There's leftovers from dinner in the pot over the fire. It's simple food, but nourishing. You might as well eat."

Baal regarded her strangely for a moment. Then he said, "Thank you. I will."

She gathered some personal belongings and went down to the edge of the river to perform her nightly ritual of cleaning her teeth and rubbing oil into the soles of her feet to keep the skin moist and prevent infection from any cuts or blisters. As a monk, she walked barefoot.

When she returned to the fireside, her new companion was eating directly from the pot of rice with a speed that suggested he was famished. He made brief eye contact, his strangely bright eyes expressing no emotion, and resumed his meal. Saiya ignored him and began to walk clockwise around the campsite, eyes closed, hands together in prayer. Under her breath, she recited a spiritual mantra to ward off evil intent. As she paced, light welled up in her footprints and spread outwards in a glowing tide, forming a boundary that only the most powerful demons would be able to cross without injury. The light faded after a brief time, but the protective fence would stand for some hours still.

Baal kept his silence as she unfurled her bedroll and climbed into it, but she thought he looked impressed. He made no move to find a sleeping spot of his own. Indeed, when she woke briefly several hours later from a dream and turned onto her side, he was still sitting, leaned up against the trunk of the mighty elm, hood pulled down to shadow his eyes. She wondered hazily if he ever slept.

When Saiya next opened her eyes, the sun had already risen. She faced the woods, with the rest of the camp behind her, and there was no sound save for the wind playing in the treetops and the cheerful songs of the birds. Sitting up, she noticed that the campsite was devoid of any human presence. The fire had burned out. She wondered if the events of the previous night had been a fantasy; if the mysterious dark stranger had been but a figment of her imagination.

But as she rose and dressed in the simple robe that covered her undergarments, she saw signs of Baal's existence. The grass was flattened at the base of the elm where he had sat through the night. There were prints from boots in the sandy bank, along with drag marks where she had hauled his unconscious body from the water. And there was a plate of food sitting on the ground by the ashes of the fire: scrambled eggs, a piece of toasted bread, and strips of fatty meat. Upon closer examination, she realized that the fire had in fact been lit only an hour before, and had been doused by water. Around the edges, coals still flickered.

Remembering Baal's warning about his early rising habits, Saiya knew that she must have overslept. He had gone ahead without her, without even trying to rouse her, without a note to say, _goodbye, thanks for saving my life, see you in New Tristram maybe. _She felt unaccountably disappointed, and wondered at herself. She could not possibly have formed any attachment to the anti-social stranger with the dark aura that she had known only briefly. She chalked up her let-down feelings to the simple need for human companionship that had been promised and then so abruptly withdrawn. At least he had been thoughtful enough to cook her breakfast to make up for the food he had eaten the previous night. And she had to admit, his offering was more appealing than cold, unseasoned rice and berries.

After eating, she washed the plate and utensils, packed up her bedroll, and scattered the ashes of the fire so the ground would begin to heal. Then she filled her canteen from the river, after first chanting a mantra to purify the water of any diseases or parasites. Casting one last look back, preserving the spot in her memory, she turned away and stepped out onto the road.

And nearly crashed right into Baal.

Jumping back in surprise, she stared at him as if he was a creature from another world. She had been so sure that he was gone from her life as suddenly as he entered it that it was almost more of a shock to see him standing casually there in the daylight than it was when he first jumped down on her from above the waterfall. He grinned at the surprise on her face.

"Good morning," he said. "About time you joined the waking world."

"I thought …" Saiya shook her head. "Where did you go?"

"Just scouting ahead on the trail," he replied. "I saw no signs of trouble, but we should be on our guard anyway. How did you like breakfast?"

"It was excellent, thank you," she said.

"Much better than the fare you're accustomed to, I'll wager," he laughed. "Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful that you fed me, but I've tasted dog food that was more flavorful. Have you ever heard of salt? It can really improve a dish."

Saiya gave him a dirty look, but managed to bite back a angry retort. If only he wasn't _right _…

"Haven't you ever heard of manners?" she asked instead, her tone falsely bright. "A simple 'thank you' would have sufficed."

Baal didn't seem chastened in the least. "Just thought I'd make the suggestion. It's for your own benefit, really. You're the one who has to eat that stuff."

Saiya gave up. As they began to walk, in (mostly) companionable silence, she studied him surreptitiously from the corner of her eye. He looked different in daylight. No less dangerous, perhaps, but more human. His eyes had lost their weird glow. His teeth, though still abnormally pointed, no longer resembled fangs. His hood hid his hair and cast his face in shadow, but she was able to observe the rest of him more clearly.

He was quite tall, topping her by several inches despite her own stature, which for a woman was unusually large. He was, mercifully, fully dressed now, with nary an inch of skin showing between the black leather of his clothes and the armor that fleshed it out at the joints, but Saiya blushed inadvertently as she recalled the intimate details of the body that lay beneath that conservative attire. As far as weapons went, he was armed to the teeth. Two small crossbows were slung over his shoulder, and quivers packed with arrows adorned each hip. A row of throwing knives were thrust through loops on his belt, and a pouch of round balls of black-and-red cloth with little wicks protruding from them dangled at his waist. She guessed these last ones to be some form of explosive. Next to him, she felt under-prepared with her bare feet and plain brass knuckles worn down from years of use. The handle of the one she used in her left hand was beginning to crack; it was for this reason that she was anxious to consult a blacksmith in New Tristram.

The final touch of Baal's outfit, which seemed more for style than for any practical purpose, was a short cloak that was joined to his shoulder armor and flowed down his back, rippling in the light wind as he walked.

The two of them hiked on for some time, side by side, without saying a word. Baal's eyes constantly scanned the road ahead and the woods on either side, and he often turned his head to glance behind them. Although he appeared at east, Saiya could tell that he was tensed like a wildcat ready to spring, prepared at any moment for combat.

After a while, growing bored of the silence that was somehow far more tolerable when she was alone, she made a light comment on the weather, and Baal, after a brief pause, replied in his usual blunt but not unkind way. This led into a disjointed conversation that crossed all terrains and skipped randomly about and occasionally ran into a block and dropped out of sight for several minutes until a new way forward was found. Saiya soon learned that certain topics were to be avoided: families in general were the major one, but any personal questions or references to his childhood or his past were sure to shut Baal up and put him back on his guard. On the contrary, she struck gold when she asked him about his work. He seemed to be capable of spewing endless information about various demons he had faced down and defeated, and demons yet to be encountered, and what methods he used. It seemed that the slaying of supernatural creatures required a special touch. Silver was effective, and water that had been consecrated in a church or taken from a holy spring. And his weapons required constant attention to keep them functioning. Demon blood, Baal explained, was a sort of corrosive that would not only burn away at any lesser material but after a time would coat the blade of a sword or the tip of an arrow and that weapon would cease to be effective unless purified.

He was not all talk, however, and once he had gone on for some time about demons and the ways to hunt them, he began to ask questions of her and listen intently to the answers. He expressed curiosity about the Temple of the High Sun, and was impressed when he examined her gear – which, he claimed, would most likely be very damaging to demons as it had been used so long in a holy place. He was interested in the tales of adventures that she'd had in the half-year since she'd left the monks. And as the hours passed by, Saiya found that she was beginning to enjoy herself.

They traveled all that day without seeing another living soul. The path stayed fairly close to the water, although sometimes it cut through a denser patch of woodland to avoid a bend or loop in the river's path. They ate lunch on the go: crude sandwiches of bread and cured meat with an apple each. Saiya, wary of accepting too much generosity, offered to cook dinner from her stores again and promised to use salt.

Camp that night was made in the shelter of a rock outcropping shaped like a shallow V. Baal built their cookfire in the point of the V and Saiya laid out her bedroll on one side while her companion sat in a comfortable dip in the stone on the other. After dinner (rice again – Saiya was forced to admit that it was much better salted – and a stirfry of white mushrooms, spring onions, and early leaves from an wild member of the spinach family known as miner's lettuce. They talked easily for a while as the fire dyed down, and Saiya laid the protective boundary and then excused herself and went down to the stream.

She could still see the flickering light of the fire, and the moon shone down through the clouds and gleamed silver on the placid surface of the river. The night air was warm and humid. Saiya hummed softly to herself as she bathed her feet and washed her outer robe, which she did every few days.

A twig snapping in the thicket to her right caused her to glance up sharply. Her heart caught in alarm as she saw the dim outline of a crouching shape, beastlike in form. An instant later, it sprang for her. Only quick reflexes saved her life. She dropped and rolled away, right into the shallows, and the beast's clawed feet struck the ground directly where she had been sitting. Jaws bristling with long teeth closed with a fearsome snap designed to rend flesh and break bone.

Saiya opened her mouth to yell for Baal, but the stench wafting from the creature's body choked her throat. She groped around on the bottom of the river, and found only sand and pebbles; nothing to defend herself with. The beast stood on the shore, blocking her escape. She stumbled upright, raising her bare fists, desperately hoping that Baal would hear the commotion and come to her aid.

The demon growled, hunched its shoulders, and lunged for her throat.


	3. 3 - A Town Under Siege

**Amor Vincit Omnia**

**(Love Conquers All)**

**Okay, some of you might have noticed that I've downgraded the rating on this story to T. Bear with me, none of the planned content is going to change, but I just wasn't getting the views I'd hoped for with an M rating, so here's my idea. Certain chapters (only a few, and you will be warned) will have an M rating. Everything else is really a T. It's not like there's sex and violent death in every chapter. **

**So far, my inspiration has been driving me to write _a lot _on this story ... I plan to keep updating along this schedule, although I may have to slow down at some point. But reviews will go a long way towards keeping the muse active, so ... ... ... always appreciated. That said, please enjoy the next chapter!**

Chapter Three: The Town Under Siege

In midair, the leap of the attacking beast was suddenly arrested by a speeding force that knocked it sideways into the water. It rolled a few times and stood, but what was formerly a predatory hunting crouch was now a limp of pain. A black-feathered crossbow bolt sprouted from its shoulder. Saiya lost no time in grabbing a heavy branch from the nearby bank and bringing it down on the wounded beast's head – once, twice, thrice. It collapsed into the water, dead.

The lifeforce left its body visibly, a great cloud of swirling white mist with distorted features. It howled towards her, but at the last minute balked and turned upwards, disappearing into the night sky with a long-drawn shriek of hatred that burned in her ears.

Breathing a slow sigh of relief, Saiya threw the branch away and turned her head towards the woods. Baal was standing there, arms crossed. As she waded towards shore, he bounded down to meet her, helped her up on the bank, and then splashed into the water himself to inspect his slain foe.

"Definitely a demonic influence," he announced. "This was once a wolf, but it was possessed by an evil spirit and became … _this._" He peeled back the eyelid to expose a pupil-less red orb flecked with blots of darkness. Blood and ichors oozed from the cornea. The tongue extending from the mouth was white with froth. Saiya winced at the sight of one of nature's children so painfully corrupted.

"Thank you," she said. "You probably saved my life just now."

Baal shrugged one shoulder. "This was why we're traveling together, right? I was only doing my job."

"I'm going to pretend you just said, 'you're welcome'," she replied. He rolled his eyes.

"Would you please do me a favor, and bring your weapons along next time you wander away from camp in the middle of the night?" he said. "I might not always be around to come to your rescue, and these are dangerous parts. Clearly the rumors were true."

"Do you think this was caused by the falling star?" Saiya asked as they trudged back up to their camp. She'd insisted on pulling the wolf-turned-demon's corpse out of the river. No sense in tainting the water.

"I don't know," said Baal. "Who knows what the thing _really_ was. A star, a meteor … perhaps even some being."

"But what could survive a fall like that?"

"No idea."

Suddenly very tired, Saiya stripped down and climbed into her bedroll. "Night, Baal," she mumbled.

As she was drifting off into slumber, she faintly heard his reply: "Good night, Saiya."

DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII

The closer they drew to New Tristram, the more signs they saw of the demonic scourge besetting the land. Ruined farmhouses, slaughtered livestock, and ravaged crops. Recent corpses on the roadside, bones laid bare to the sun – the gruesome remnants of a vile feast. And of course the demons themselves, coming singly at first and then in hordes. There were abominations of all kinds: some of them animals and even humans possessed as the wolf had been by a wicked ghost seeking corporeal existence. Others were demons of a truer nature: plague hounds and overgrown spiders, winged imps and ground tunnelers. All of them had something in common. They were after human blood.

Saiya soon discovered that Baal's air of confidence was not unjustified. Though (by his own admission) his experience was limited, he had a gift for combat, and – most importantly – an unquenchable thirst to destroy all of demonkind. Saiya, though undeniably grateful for his presence and skill, was sometimes aghast at the fierce joy he seemed to take in killing, and the way he reveled in the agony of his foes. The more painful the death, the more pleasure he derived from it. She could only be glad that his destructive nature was turned towards demons and not members of his own race.

For her part, she found herself learning quickly the best ways to fight against demons, and began working to expand her repertoire of techniques. Baal, who was never satisfied with his own progress and strived continuously to better himself, was generous with his knowledge and store of demon-combating weapons. With his help, Saiya made a powder that, when hurled into a group, would blind and stun, leaving their foes vulnerable. She also began to use her feet as well as her fists, to great effect.

Because of the short range of her attacks, she sustained a few small injuries during their battles, mostly scrapes, bites, and bruises. These, Baal said, were less severe on her than they would be on others because her mantras kept her safe from the corruption that came with most wounds inflicted by demons. He himself stayed clear of the thick of the battle, ranging on the edges and picking out his targets with deadly accuracy. If ever a demon drew near him, he would flip away with incredible speed, firing as he went. Sometimes he laid traps that exploded if triggered, or cast a sticky web over the unfortunate demon, binding it in place.

In between skirmishes they talked of strategy and tactics, and sometimes sparred lightly with each other. The one thing Baal dreaded was being caught unarmed, and he eagerly asked Saiya to instruct him in the basics of hand-to-hand combat. He was a quick learner, and although he would never be able to hit as hard as she could, he would at least have the skills to defend himself in a tight situation.

They reached the ferry at Wortham in late afternoon of the third day they traveled together, just as Baal had predicted. Saiya insisted on splitting the cost of the boat with him, though it heavily taxed her meager purse. Baal looked as though he wanted to argue the point, but she had already paid her share to the boatman, and taken her seat.

The river was much wider here – the other bank was just barely visible, cloaked in fog – and the journey took nearly half-an-hour. As soon as they set foot on the dock, the boatman cast off again, and began to row back with much more alacrity than he had shown in bringing them.

"Where's the town?" Saiya asked, looking around. All she could see were misty woodlands. A narrow dirt path led away from the docks, twisting between the trees. Branches overhung it and bushes crowded in as though the forest itself was trying to extinguish all traces of human habitation.

"This way, I believe," replied Baal, indicating the path. "Shouldn't be too far."

The trail was too narrow for them to walk together, so Baal took the lead. Saiya stayed close on his heels, clenching her hands around her brass knuckles. There was something unsettling about the woods. They seemed to swallow all light and sound and movement. Only the mist creeped, like a living thing, but although it choked the foliage, it did not touch the path.

Baal suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, and Saiya nearly ran right into his back. "Do you smell that?" he asked before she could say a word.

She sniffed the air, but only the deep scents of loam and rotting wood reached her nose. She shook her head.

"There's something afoot," Baal warned her. "Demons … a whole host of them. I wonder that you can't smell it! Their stench covers everything."

At that moment, the mist ahead cleared slightly, and screams broke through the silence and rang among the trees. Saiya could hear the desperate voice of a man yelling orders, trying to rally his companions, but he was drowned out by piercing cries of terror. Baal broke into a headlong dash, with Saiya pounding after him, struggling to match his long stride.

They burst from the clutches of the forest into a clearing in front of New Tristram's gates, where a wide road passed by the town. On one side, a barricade had been erected, and a group of soldiers were fighting hard to keep it from being breached. It was a losing battle.

But what pierced Saiya to the heart was on the other side of the road, where a small group of children were huddled together, clutching each other and staring with huge eyes at the swarm of possessed corpses surrounding them. A single man – the captain of the soldiers, by the look of his armor – stood protectively in front of them, but he was badly outmatched.

"I'm going to help him!" Saiya exclaimed. "Baal, you'd better make sure that barricade holds!"

"Can you handle it?" he asked doubtfully, eyeing the swarm.

"Yes, now go!"

"Be careful," he said, and clasped her shoulder for one brief moment. Then he was off, sprinting to the barricade. Saiya ran in the other direction and in a moment was by the captain's side.

"I'll take care of this," she said. "Get the children to safety."

He gaped in amazement. "But my lady …"

"No arguments!" Saiya gave him her sternest glare. "Go!"

"Hang in there," he said grimly. "I'll be back as soon as I can." Turning, he scooped up the two youngest and began herding the rest towards the gate, shouting for the people inside to open it.

Left to face the swarm, Saiya breathed deeply and cast out a handful of blinding powder. The foremost corpses reeled back, pawing at their eyes with peeling hands and staggering unsteadily on their rotting feet. Saiya's first strike took the head off of one, and her high kick knocked another two onto the ground, where they were easily finished off. She continued to fight, grimacing in disgust as bodily fluids loosened by rot splashed liberally onto her. She was going to need a good bath when this was done.

She had just crushed the last corpse's face in with a strong right when she felt clammy fingers clutching at her ankles. Unbalanced, she fell backwards and was immediately beset by the top half of a formerly dead man that had detached itself from the legs and was dragging itself with unbelievable vigor up her body. It fastened its hands around her throat and squeezed, cutting off her air. Saiya hit it twice in the side of the head, but her blows were weak from the poor angle. The edges of her vision began to blur.

Silver flashed, and the corpse's severed head thumped onto the ground next to her. The iron grip loosened enough for her to throw off the decapitated torso and struggle to her feet. Her savior was the captain, who – true to his word – had returned for her.

Looking around, Saiya saw that with the aid given by her and Baal, the battle had been won. Her companion was standing atop the barricade, firing arrows at the last of their fleeing foes. The few soldiers remaining set up a cheer.

"My lady, are you injured?" asked the captain.

Saiya tried to answer, but her voice emerged as a hoarse croak. She shook her head.

"You fought brilliantly," he said, and there was real admiration in his voice. "If it weren't for you and your friend, our town might not be standing now. We can't thank you enough. I'm Captain Rumford, by the way."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain," she wheezed. "I'm Saiya, and my companion is … ah … Baal." She watched nervously for his reaction, but thankfully the name did not seem to ring a bell.

"Well, Saiya," he said, "I don't know where you learned to fight like that, but the pair of you will get a hero's welcome in New Tristram, that's for sure!" Turning, he called out, "Eric, open the gate!"

"Yes, sir!" came the reply from inside the walls. There was the sound of a winch being cranked, and the sturdy oaken doors to the town swung open.

Baal came striding over to join them, his lips drawn up in the darkly triumphant smile that he always wore after a victory. He smacked Saiya on the back in a friendly way, congratulated her, and introduced himself to Rumford with an amiable handshake. Rumford in turn thanked him handsomely for his assistance and led the way into New Tristram.

The town was smaller than Saiya had expected. A scattering of houses built in the squat northern style, a decrepit inn dubiously titled 'The Slaughtered Calf', a blacksmith's forge (seemingly abandoned), and an open area with empty market booths. There were few people to be seen, and most of them had a sallow, unhealthy look about them and grim, weary, unwelcoming faces. On the steps of the inn, a filthy minstrel plucked out a haunting tune on his mandolin that leant an eerie atmosphere to the place.

Rumford approached an overweight man in finery with a sleek, well-groomed look far out of keeping with the starved, poverty-stricken citizens. He began explaining the newcomers' actions and praising their valor and skill in battle. The fat man, who Saiya assumed to be the mayor of the town, nodded and rubbed his plump hands and smiled ingratiatingly at her. She scowled back, disliking him on sight. Baal sneered at him with open contempt.

"My _dear _friends," said the mayor, with honey in his tone, as he came up to them. "My eternal thanks for your heroic actions. Allow me to introduce myself: I am Holus, leader of this community. Anything we can do to repay you, we will. Perhaps you will stay and grace us with your presence awhile? Do some business here in New Tristram? We are in somewhat of an economic crisis, and you can probably see, and a little trade would do wonders." He ended his speech with a repellent little chuckle.

Baal ignored him and spoke to Rumford. "What can you tell me of the falling star?"

Rumford frowned. "That was the beginning of our troubles. It came to earth a week ago and destroyed the old cathedral outside of town. A girl named Leah was the only witness who survived the destruction. You should speak to her if you want information. None of us have dared to go near the place on account of the demons."

"Where can I find this girl?" Baal asked.

"She's staying at the inn."

"My thanks, Captain."

Rumford executed a short bow. "None needed. Now, if you will excuse me, I must go and burn those that fell in the battle today, lest their bodies come back to haunt us."

Mayor Holus made another attempt at flattery, but Baal walked away in the middle of his sentence. Saiya hurried after him. Her heartbeat was still accelerated from the fight, and she felt raw energy and power coursing through her. What a difference it made, to be one of the warriors and not one of the helpless!

Most of the town seemed to be gathered in the inn's common room. Striding in, Baal looked around at each startled face in turn and said, "Which of you is Leah?"

A diminutive young woman around Saiya's age with short brown hair and an impish face stepped forward. "I am," she said. "What do you want with me?"

"I seek information on the star that fell near here," said Baal. "I am told that you saw it happen."

Leah's gaze fell downwards. "Uncle Deckard and I were in the chapel of the old cathedral at the time. The star smashed through the floor and down several stories. It took my uncle with it."

"I am sorry to hear of your loss," Baal said. There was an odd note of gentleness in his tone that took Saiya by surprise. She had seen him serious and amused, angry and thoughtful … but never tender.

Leah's eyes snapped back up to meet his, wide and earnest. "But he isn't dead!" she exclaimed. "I know he's not! I tried to search for him but the risen dead prevented my progress."

"Look," said Baal, "I regret having to say this, but … I doubt anyone could survive being struck by a falling star."

"Uncle Deckard did," Leah said stubbornly. "I would know if he had died. We are very close. I could feel his lifeforce coming up from the bottom of that awful pit. Please, do what you can to save him!"

Baal sighed. "Well, I intend to investigate the place where the star fell anyway. If I find your uncle alive, I will bring him back to you. If he is dead, I will return with his body."

"Thank you," said Leah.

"Now," Baal continued, walking up to the bar, where the landlord of the establishment was serving ale to some customers. "Innkeeper, I am in need of a room for the night. How much are you asking?"

"Thirty gold, my lord," replied the man. He had a stolid, honest face, though he was as malnourished as the rest of the people of New Tristram. "Normally, I would ask twice that, but I've had news of your brave action at the gate. Gods bless you, my lord!"

"I'd like a room as well, sir," said Saiya, who was beginning to feel slightly forgotten-about.

The innkeeper's welcoming smile slipped a bit. "Ah, our other hero! My lady, I regret to inform you that we have only one room open at the moment. So many of our outlying residents have been forced into town that we are quite crowded. Please, forgive me, my lady; I mean no slight. Perhaps the mayor might have available accommodations?"

"It is no problem," interrupted Baal, before Saiya could protest that she would rather sleep out of doors than stay with Mayor Holus. "Right?" he added, turning to her. "We've shared a campsite for several nights, why not a room for one more?"

For some reason, the proposal made Saiya feel vaguely uncomfortable. Perhaps, she thought, it was the wording; it made the innocent offer sound more like a forbidden tryst.

_That's ridiculous! _she scolded herself. _How awkward could it be? It's better than going anywhere near that detestable mayor, anyway!_

"I'll split the cost with you," she said, taking out her purse. She didn't even need to count it to know that fifteen gold would scrape the leather at the bottom.

"I've already paid for it," said Baal, dropping a bag of coin onto the wooden counter top.

"But …"

"Forget about it," he insisted. "You can buy me dinner, if you like."

With no other choice, Saiya surrendered and vowed that she wouldn't let him get away with it again. She was already enough in his debt without digging the hole any deeper.

Rations were extremely short in town, and the only foodstuffs left were so unappetizing that they ended up on a brief hunting excursion outside the gates. With Saiya chasing up the game and Baal shooting it, they soon had several birds and a rabbit. The animals at least were well-fed. Baal kept back the fattest of the pheasants and handed the rest of their catch over to Captain Rumford to distribute among the citizens most in need.

Her hunger sated, Saiya gave in to her next most pressing need and drew a hot bath in the room she was sharing with Baal. The steaming water was so relaxing that she dozed off and woke half an hour later to her companion thumping on the door, with a crick in her neck and hands and feet like prunes.

The room had only one bed, but Baal solved the dilemma by offering to sleep on the floor. It was a peculiarity of his that he didn't seem to be able to sleep lying down. When Saiya woke briefly an hour before dawn, she saw through half-closed eyes the demon hunter sitting in the corner, legs stretched out in front of him and head leaned back against the wall. His eyes were open. She wondered if he'd even slept at all.


	4. 4 - Empty Graves

**Amor Vincit Omnia**

**(Love Conquers All)**

**WARNING: Some mature content in this chapter. Nothing warranting an M, but there is some violent imagery. If any of you are sensitive to that, I would advise skipping. **

Chapter Four: Empty Graves

The room was empty when Saiya woke the next morning. Knowing Baal to be an early riser (if one can be considered to have 'risen' when one never went to sleep in the first place), she figured that he might be out in the common area. She dressed in her newly cleaned robe and ascended the stairs to the main room. Leah was there, sleepily eating her way through a hunk of bread and some sausages, but no Baal.

Saiya looked next out in the sparsely-populated streets, perused the few stands manned by merchants, and finally checked at the guard post and the front gate. It was Rumford who told her where her companion had gone.

"He left at the crack of dawn, my lady, all geared up and raring for a fight. He left no word of where he was bound or when he was expected to return. I thought _you _would know that. Aren't you his friend?"

"We met on the road only a few days ago," Saiya explained. "We've eaten together, walked together, and fought together, but little more than that. I know nothing about him."

Rumford put his hand on her shoulder and looked at her with kind eyes. "My lady, may I give you a word of advice? It's none of my business, I know, and far be it from me to speak ill of a man who has done our town such service, but I've taken a liking to you and would hate to see you hurt in any way. My own daughter would have been much like you, I think, had she lived."

Saiya made a small noise of sympathy. She returned Rumford's admiration, and thought him a respectable and honest man. "What's your advice, Captain?" she asked.

"I would caution you to steer clear of that man," he said. "He is not evil, but there is a darkness in his soul. Such darkness oft has the power to corrupt and blacken innocent hearts merely by association. Best let him go, and think no more of him."

"Baal has done nothing to harm me, Captain," Saiya said mildly.

"Yes, I know, and I do not believe he would … intentionally. As I said, he is not evil. But such men as he may _attract_ evil, draw it to them like moths to flame, and that evil has a way of burning those around them. I have seen it before."

Saiya nodded. "Thank you, sir. I appreciate your concern and goodwill towards me, and I shall think carefully about what you have said. Now, on my own business, is there a blacksmith in this town?"

"Haedrig Eamon is the man you seek," said Rumford, "but he has not manned his forge for near a week. His wife was stricken with the demon corruption, and he refuses to leave her side. A most devoted husband, Haedrig."

"Well," Saiya sighed, "since it seems that I am left with nothing to do, can I be of further assistance to you?" When he hesitated, she said, "I can fight. You saw that yesterday. And I am a hard worker and a quick learner. Put me where you will, and I'll pull my weight. Don't scorn my help because I am a woman, Captain."

Rumford's swarthy face split in a wide grin. "By the gods, girl, if only my men were as willing as you! All right, I'll put you to work, but you must allow me to pay you the same wage I would give any of my soldiers."

"That's fair enough," Saiya said, relieved. Not that she would admit it, but the money would be welcome. "What do you want me to do?"

Rumford stroked his chin with his fingers, considering. At last he said, "I think I'll send you out with one of my crews on what we call a 'sweep and slay' mission. Comb the countryside, exterminate any of those fiends you come across; if you find a corpse, burn it. If you find a refugee, bring 'em in even if they don't want to come. Some of our farmers are stubborn folk, but they don't seem to understand that being alone out there means death."

Saiya's thoughts strayed unbidden to Baal, no doubt 'alone out there' as they spoke. She quelled a sudden fear that blossomed in her chest. He was a professional hunter, not some farmer wielding a woodcutter's ax. He could take care of himself.

But still she would rest easier when he came striding back in through the front gate, wearing a triumphant victory smirk.

Rumford, oblivious to her worries, was saying, "I'll put you with Aidel, Jan, and Pip. They're down at the front gate now, preparing to set out. Do you need some time to get ready, my lady?"

"Captain, my name's Saiya," she insisted. "I'm no one's Lady. I'm just a humble wandering monk."

"Well then, Saiya … you be safe out there." Rumford slapped her lightly on the shoulder. "Don't make me come after you."

"I won't," Saiya promised. She went back to her room briefly to pick up her brass knuckles and the remains of the pheasant to eat on the way. Then she headed down to the front gate to meet up with her team.

They were a likeable trio. Aidel was a handsome fellow with prematurely silver hair and an infectious laugh. Jan was a huge bearded bear of a man with hands so large they made his sword look like a twig. Pip, the youngest, had yet to lose his baby fat but seemed to have no problem attracting the ladies. He had perfected a soulful gaze from his baby-blue eyes that had melted many a teenage heart. At first he tried out his charms on Saiya, but once he learned she was not the average lovesick girl, he abandoned his attempts at romance and treated her like one of his male comrades.

The four of them climbed over the barricade and set out along the northbound road. The sky was hung with clouds – a gloomy overcast atmosphere that, Aidel said, had pervaded the area since the star fell. They crossed a little wooden bridge over a lazy stream and climbed a rocky hill towards the open farmland beyond the woods.

For hours, they roamed the countryside, tracing a wide circle so they would end up back New Tristram when the day was done. Saiya was soon glad of the cheerful natures of the soldiers, for she had never seen so much death and destruction in her entire life as she did in that short time. Within an hour, they had found an entire family of ten butchered and left to rot on the hard ground, their home smoldering behind them. The only survivor of the incident was their dog, which was nosing forlornly at the corpses and sounding mournful howls.

They laid the bodies in a row: two grown men who looked so alike they had to be brothers, a plain but sweet-looking woman who was probably the wife of one of them, a white-haired and frail grandmother, and – most tragically of all – six children ranging from teenaged to a little boy barely old enough to walk. There was nothing cheery in the soldiers' faces as they said a brief prayer for the souls of the dead and made a vow to avenge them. Saiya wept silently at the cruel waste of precious life, and Pip put his arm around her and pulled her close.

After the last rites were spoken, they covered the bodies with a black shroud, specially treated to burn bright and hot, and heaped straw and wood from the homestead over the pile. Aidel, as the leader of the group, struck a spark and soon there was a roaring blaze where once a whole family had laughed and worked and loved each other.

They took the dog with them, fearing that he would pine away and die if left. Saiya, who loved animals, named it One-up for his one ear that stood up perkily while the other drooped. She took care to show him an extra degree of affection, and before long he was trotting along at her heels as though he'd always been there.

Nothing else they saw that day was as bad as the first encounter. There were demons aplenty, and they slew them with a ruthlessness spurred on by the terrible memory of the murdered family. There was a shallow mass grave at the roots of a twisted oak that had been unearthed by hands clawing at the soil from beneath. There was another lonely farm, this one unspoilt and inhabited by a lone old man who refused to budge. Eventually, after they fought off a small pack of demons that were encroaching on the border of the fields, the farmer invited them into his house to meet his wife and have some lunch – whereupon the four discovered to their shock and horror that his "wife" (and the main reason why the man would not consent to leave) was nothing more than a desiccated shell of flesh and bone in a rocking chair. She had obviously been dead far longer than beginning of the demon infestation. When Pip bumped into the chair by accident and her head fell into her lap, they decided to go and let the old man be; but Saiya took the trouble of laying a mantra of protection around the house before they quit the place.

As the sun was waning in the sky, they trudged back into New Tristram, foot-sore and heart-sick. Saiya's first action was to inquire of Baal, only to learn that he had not returned. She accepted her day's pay from Captain Rumford – finding it far more generous than she had expected – and returned to the inn to bathe and see about dinner.

There was somewhat of a commotion in the common room as she entered. Several of the sick people had escaped from their enforced stay in the basement of Haedrig the Blacksmith's house, and stumbled deliriously into the Slaughtered Calf, where they had at last given in to the ravages of the disease and attacked several of the refugees. Thankfully, disaster had been averted by lucky chance of another pair of travelers that had come into town midday, two magic wielders that had fortuitously been present to send the demon-possessed people to their final rest. One of the dead was Haedrig's beloved wife, which, as Rumford said to Saiya privately and out of anyone else's hearing, was actually a beneficial thing, since there was no cure for the sickness, and Haedrig would able to get on with his grieving now that she was truly dead in a way he hadn't when she was still partially alive. The following morning half the town was awakened by a thundering in the forge, and several went in to find Haedrig, blinded by tears, pounding a shapeless bit of molten steel with his hammer.

For Saiya's part, she fell asleep early and did not rise until the day was well under way. She could not explain even to herself the vague depression that was haunting her, the disquieting sense that _something_ was missing, if only she knew what. Rumford asked anxiously if she was feeling ill, with paranoid undertones that suggested he thought she had been overexposed to the demonic influence, and threatened to take her off active duty and place her with the other women of New Tristram, who were occupied with cooking, cleaning, mending, and tending to the wounded and sick. Saiya refused, and shortly after noon she was embarking once again in the company of her new friends, this time in search of a more powerful demon that had been sighted in several places throughout the countryside. They called her the Wretched Queen, and she was purportedly capable of spawning more of the foul brethren.

They found her at last, far to the east, in the desolate ruins of Old Tristram. Her skin had a spectral glow, and as she staggered aimlessly about she paused now and then to vomit up a nauseating bile, from which a nameless thing would crawl, growing quickly until it was a fully-formed demon ready to hunt and kill.

"This one's going to take a bit more work, lads – and lady," said Aidel as they watched the evil mother from behind a low stone wall. "She's a tough old bitch … pardon my language, miss … and I don't think the usual method will work. Here's the plan: I'll lure her out into the open area there, and we'll drop a net on her. Pip and Jan, you'll hold her down, and Saiya and I will finish her off. All right?"

They nodded in agreement, and Aidel stepped cautiously out of cover. The Queen noticed him instantly, her head snapping around impossibly far on her shoulders, and her jaws stretched wide and she spewed forth more of her loathsome children.

"Come and get me!" Aidel shouted. His hand was ready on the hilt of his sword, but he did not yet draw it. "Come on, you filthy gutter-wench! Do I look like a good meal? Not so keen to bite anything that bites back, are you?"

She was angry now, lumbering towards him as fast as her misshapen legs would allow, arms outstretched and mouth agape. Aidel backed away, still goading her on.

And then, as he passed a lantern-post, a small dark shape exploded up out of the ground and bulled into his shoulder, knocking him aside. He had no time to go for his weapon, trying to cover his face and neck with his hands as more of the creatures swarmed over him, fastening their tiny razor teeth into his flesh.

In a flash Saiya was over the wall and running towards her fallen comrade, with Pip and Jan right after her. She grabbed one of the demons, which was about the size of a large rabbit and covering in spines, but as she touched it, it released its hold on Aidel and flew at her, sinking its fangs into her shoulder. She screamed and fell back, trying to pry it off. Pip kicked it away, but it took a good chunk of skin with it.

Glancing around, Saiya saw that the situation had rapidly degenerated to from mildly dangerous to dire. A host of the tunneling beasts had sprung up out of the ground in all directions and were closing in with leaps and bounds. Aidel was down, bleeding all over, and Jan was trying to staunch a nasty wound in his throat.

Pip's hand found hers and squeezed. He breathed, "Sorry, Saiya … you shouldn't be here with us."

She squeezed back, somehow finding the strength to smile through the agony in her shoulder. "We'll take as many of them as we can out with us," she said. "They'll be talking in New Tristram for years about our valiant last stand."

He gulped and smiled back. Releasing his hand, Saiya lifted her fists and launched herself into the spot where the horde was thickest. Her hands were blur, and demons flew back from the force behind her strikes. Even when they overwhelmed her, clinging to her back and legs, she would not go down, fighting all the more fiercely for the pain. She was conscious only of each breath, each beat of her heart, each skull that split under her knuckles.

As her vision began to blur and her limbs stopped obeying orders from her brain, the last thought that passed through her brain was: _did Baal find the fallen star? _

DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII

_The world was unnaturally bright. A great bell rang mercilessly in her mind, tolling over and over again, and every peal shook her very bones. She advanced into the source of the light and found herself on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a waterfall. The head monk was mediating there, a halo of holy light around his head. Saiya walked over to stand beside him, gazing out over the spectacular view, feeling utterly at peace. _

"_Is this heaven?" she asked presently. _

"_Yes, after a fashion," replied the head monk. "This is the outer edge, where souls near death can still find the strength within themselves to turn back and enter the mortal world again." _

"_Why are you here?" she asked, but as soon as the words left her mouth, she knew the answer. _

"_My child, I passed on months ago, shortly after your departure from the Temple," he said. "Do not grieve. My spirit is at peace. I came here to meet with you."_

"_Father!" she cried, falling to her knees and burying her face in his robes as she used to do when she was little. "I am not ready to die!" _

"_I know, my little one. If you wish to return from whence you came, you must find the will to live. Listen to the bell, Saiya. Feel the rhythm its peal within your very soul. Your body is badly wounded. When you reenter it, you must bring the bell with you, and use it to defeat your foes." _

"_How?" she wailed, but the head monk was already fading again. One last twinkle from his faded blue eyes, and the lingering words, "Listen to the bell, child …" and he was gone. Saiya felt a chasm yawn in her heart at his parting. He was an old man when she left the temple, but she had never imagined he would die so soon, without her there to say goodbye. He had seemed immortal, as permanent a fixture in the world as the sun in the sky. _

_The light around her was rapidly dimming, and Saiya knew that she needed to act fast. Step by torturous step, she fought her way back down the twisted tunnel between the darkened trees, emerging just above the field of battle. Looking down, she saw her own body, crumpled on its side. Pip knelt above her, his face twisted in pain, striking feebly out at any demon that dared venture within his range. Jan was already slumped over next to Aidel's still form. _

_Saiya took a deep breath and dove down, into her mangled body, into the unbearable agony that she knew was waiting. At first it was so intense that she could not breath or even think: every part of her was on fire, burning up, her skin peeling from her bones and drifting into ash. But she forced the torment away, retreated into the deepest hidden recess of her mind, summoned up the sound of the bell, felt it reverberate through her and spread outwards in a mighty wave of energy. She saw – with her mind's eye or her real ones, did it matter? – the demons surrounding her crumble into dust, blown into oblivion by the unstoppable power of the bell. _

DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII

Pip shouted in shock, unable to believe his eyes. He could not see what magic was at work here, but its effect was undeniable. Within seconds, every demon within a hundred feet was not only vanquished, but nonexistent. The wave seemed to emanate from Saiya, who he had thought dead when she fell beneath the swarm. As he watched in amazement, she opened her eyes and sat slowly up. She was still covered in blood, but her wounds seemed to have sealed.

"Are you all right?" she asked. Pip almost laughed at the absurdity of it. She, who was mortally wounded but somehow managed to save them all, asks if he's all right.

"Fine!" he exclaimed. "Fine! But Saiya …"

Her gaze shifted past him to focus on something over his shoulder. Turning his head, he saw a tall figure dressed in black coming towards them out of the mist. He picked up his sword again, ready to defend, but Saiya put her hand over his and shook her head.

"It's okay," she said. "It's a friend."

Moving as if she had aged a hundred years, she stood. She did not advance to greet the figure, only stood silently, hands by her sides, waiting. As the vapors parted, the figure's face came into view.

It was Baal, and he was carrying an old man in his arms.


	5. 5 - Honest Opinions

**Amor Vincit Omnia**

**(Love Conquers All)**

**Well, chapter five. Kind of a landmark! I'm a bit surprised that this story hasn't gotten a single review, although I know that people are reading and at least two readers liked it enough to favorite it (thanks, guys, seeing those numbers cheered me up even without a review!) I'm not gonna harass you all to review in every A/N I leave, but I would like to humbly request it one more time. Reviews are like paychecks to dedicated writers ... without them, it's hard to tell if I'm doing my job right. I want to know what you all like, what you don't, what you think I should change, what you want to see more of. That's the sort of story tailoring that I can't do without reviews.**

**Okay, I've made my case. I'll leave it up to you all. Even if you don't take the time to review, thanks for reading! Hope you all enjoy! **

Chapter Five: Honest Opinions

"Deckard!" Pip cried, leaping forward. The old man was alive and conscious; in fact he seemed to be in the best of spirits.

"How are you, my boy?" he cried genially. Then, spotting the carnage behind the young soldier, his eyes widened. "Goodness me, what happened here?"

"We were ambushed," said Pip, "and Saiya saved all of our lives. But Deckard, where have you been? We were all so worried about you!"

"The star carried me down with it into the depths of the old cathedral," the old man explained. "If I hadn't cast an emergency shield of divine protection, I would have been crushed! But I injured my ankle in the fall and was unable to walk. I've been surviving on rats and mushrooms, and trying to stay out of sight … until this excellent young man came along and found me. He says that my adopted daughter sent him."

"That's right," Pip said. To Baal he added, with a note of reverence in his voice, "Thank you, my lord, for saving him. We think very highly of him in New Tristram."

Baal did not reply. His eyes, glowing faintly under his hood, were boring into Saiya, who had turned her back and was bending over Aidel's still form. Without turning around, she called, "Pip, they're both alive, but they need healing soon! We should head back to town."

"I'll teleport us," offered Deckard. "Now that I'm free of the damping influence the star's aura had on my magic, I can use the spell again. Gather round, everyone."

Between them, Pip and Saiya collected their fallen comrades. Pip, being taller and stronger, bore the hefty weight of Jan, while Saiya supported the slighter Aidel. As she put her free hand on Deckard's arm so that she would be included in the warping group, she could feel the intensity of Baal gaze on her, but she avoided meeting his eyes. Now that she knew he was safe and well, she felt unaccountably irritated with him. Rationally, she knew that he did not owe her any justification of his abrupt disappearance, but emotionally, she felt that the tenuous bond – dare she call it a friendship? – that they had formed after enduring each other's constant company for several days had been violated. _Really_, she thought, _how hard would it have been to leave a note?_ '_Thanks and goodbye, don't know when I'll see you again, but it was nice knowing you.' Anything would have been better than just up and vanishing! _

She was so wrapped up in her indignant thoughts that she was caught off guard when the teleportation magic was cast. A rush of lightheadedness overcame her and she swayed on her feet. Baal, despite having both arms burdened, somehow managed to hook a leg behind hers and stop her from falling. The dizziness persisted for several long seconds until they actually warped, and afterwards she felt a faint nausea churning in her stomach. She decided that in the future, she would much prefer to walk.

The three members of the little party that were still able to move brought their injured companions to the house of Brother Malachi, a priest who also served as New Tristram's healer. Saiya stayed until all three of the soldiers had been treated. Her own wounds needed no attention, as they had magically sealed without trace after she had channeled the power of the mystic bell.

As they were leaving, she took Brother Malachi aside for a moment to ask if he could train her in the basics of healing magic. She was well aware of what disaster could have met them in the aftermath of the battle if Baal and Deckard had not happened upon them. Jan and Aidel would almost certainly have lost their lives, and she and Pip might not have made it back to town in their weakened state. But since teleporting was a skill only the greatest wizards were able to master, she wanted to at least develop a rudimentary skill at healing. Brother Malachi, thrilled at the prospect of a pupil, eagerly agreed.

Bone weary, Saiya turned down the invitation to a gathering to celebrate Deckard's safe return, and stumbled back to the Slaughtered Calf in a cloud of depression. Perhaps, she reflected as she limped down the stairs to her room, her dark mood had something to do with the ecstatic way that Leah threw her arms around Baal and thanked him for saving her uncle. It brought up a visceral reaction deep within her of petty jealousy.

"Stop it, Saiya," she scolded aloud. "You're being ridiculous! Whatever you had with Baal – and it really is a _whatever, _because you weren't friends, and there certainly weren't any stronger feelings involved – it's over. He. Has. No. Interest. In. You! And the sooner you realize that the better. If he cared at all, he wouldn't have just left without a word like that."

She yanked the door open with perhaps more force than necessary and slammed it shut behind her with a sigh of relief to finally be in a private place where she could let out all her pent-up frustration without everyone thinking she'd lost her mind. And then she stopped dead in utter mortification, because there was a shirtless man sitting on the edge of her bed. He looked up in mild surprise at seeing an angry-looking girl burst in through the door, but made no move to rise.

He was a small man, slightly built and an inch or two shorter than she. Nearing thirty, Saiya judged, and good-looking in a sleek, well-groomed way. His silky black hair was combed and oiled, the hair on his crown pulled back in a high ponytail while the lower locks hung loosely almost to his shoulders. His eyes, pale grey in color, were almond-shaped and glittered with wit, humor, and no small amount of arrogance. His skin was pale and smooth, with only a small, thin patch of hair in the center of his chest.

The first thought through Saiya's head was: _Oh Gods, did I go into the wrong room? _But no, this was definitely the room she had stayed in the previous two nights. In fact, her small pack of belongings was sitting in the corner. So then this man was the intruder. Well, that was awkward. She didn't even know where to start. Perhaps a scream would be the most normal reaction, although she had never been much of a screamer. She settled for a narrowed gaze and a subtly defensive stance.

"Excuse me," she said, "I believe this is my room."

"I beg to differ," replied the stranger. "I arranged to rent it from the landlord just this afternoon, and paid handsomely, I might add."

"But …" she spluttered. "But I'm already staying here! Those are my things!"

"I'm sorry," he said, not sounding sorry at all. "I'm not willing to give it up. Of course, you're more than welcome to stay here with me." This bold statement was followed up by a roguish smile obviously calculated to charm.

Saiya's mouth dropped open at his sheer audacity. Figuring that no retort she could possibly make would be sufficient, she marched across the room, right past him, and snatched her rucksack. Then, fixing him with her most potent glare, she said, "I'll be taking this up with the innkeeper," and stormed out.

The innkeeper, whose name was Bron, was sincerely apologetic and somewhat ashamed. "I realize that it's terrible policy, my lady, and under normal circumstances I would never have broken our agreement in such a way. Of course I will issue you a full refund. But you see, I had little choice. For the use of that room, the gentleman and lady paid me enough to secure the rent for two months. That sort of money is rare in times like these, and I have a family to support. Fear not, my lady, Captain Rumford has assured me that you will not be left without a place to sleep. If you do not wish to take a place in the soldier's barracks, he will allow you the guest room in his own house."

His tone and expression pleaded for forgiveness, and Saiya could not truly find fault with his need-based decision, as inconvenient as it was for her. If anyone was to blame here, it was the scoundrel who had turned her out of her room. And to think that he had the gall to invite her to stay when he already had a female companion! A long string of abusive adjectives for the man trailed through her mind before she dismissed them. There was no use dwelling on the past. Smiling ruefully, she patted Bron's hand and assured him that she bore him no ill will.

Under the darkening sky, she made her way down the street to Rumford's residence, which lay at the far end of town, by the main gate. But as she approached the door, a tall shadow stepped out from the side alley and barred her path. The glowing eyes identified the person as Baal.

"I want to speak with you," he said. His tone and expression were completely neutral, but his posture spoke of tenseness.

"What is it?" Saiya asked flatly.

"Not here," he said. "Walk with me."

She reluctantly agreed, but balked when she saw that his intended path would take them outside the town walls.

"There is no danger," he said. "Trust me – my nose is very keen. There are no demons within miles of this place." With a flash of sharp canines, he added, "We chased them all away."

Saiya groaned, feeling conflicted. She wanted to refuse just to spite him, but at the same time she was overwhelmingly curious about what he had to say. "Fine," she sighed, "but if we run into trouble, I'm leaving you behind. I've had enough fighting for one day."

"Fair enough," he agreed. They strolled side-by-side for a few minutes, neither breaking the silence, and Saiya began to relax, some of her anger towards him ebbing away. She realized now that she had set herself up for disappointment by having expectations of him that were unrealistic. What he had done was a bit rude, but then no one would describe Baal as 'polite' or 'well-mannered'. It was just the way he was.

At last he said, rather banally, "You seem to have found a niche for yourself here in New Tristram."

"It's just temporary work," Saiya replied with a casual shrug. "I don't intend to stay."

Silence.

"What about you?" she asked, with only a slight element of mockery in her tone. "You're setting yourself up to be the new hero of the town. Better watch out … keep going the way you are, and they'll promote you to mayor."

"Well, I'd be an upgrade from Old Lardbelly, I think," he said. Saiya could not restrain a chuckle.

"But I don't intend to stay long either," he continued after a minute. "Let someone else be the Hero of New Tristram. I'm no champion. I'll stay until the demon uprising is quelled, and then I'm off again. As long as the minions of hell survive on this earth, I will never be able to rest."

Saiya felt a sudden rush of empathy for him. She wondered how long he had been rambling, driven by an obsession born in hatred, without any place to rest. His would be a tiring existence, that would eventually grind down even the most staunch of men.

Silence. But there was something comforting about it. It was the soft silence between two people in harmony who understand each other's souls, not the uneasy silence that longs to be filled with meaningless words.

Once again, it was she who spoke. "Did you find the star?"

Baal shook his head. "The pit it smashed was deep, far deeper than I went. I stopped when I found the old man. I would have liked to keep going, but I remembered my promise to Leah to bring him back."

"You like her, don't you?" Saiya asked impulsively.

"Who, Leah?" Baal tilted his head to one side, considering. "I suppose. She's a likeable girl, isn't she? Very pretty."

"Yes," said Saiya. "She is." Jealousy gripped at her innards with its poisonous claws. She had never thought much about her own looks before, never cared enough to fuss over them, but suddenly for no reason at all she was extremely dissatisfied with herself. Now the boyish haircut seemed unattractive rather than practical, and the strong, lanky body that she had spent so many hours honing and tempering to be a weapon felt large and awkward and ugly. She was sharply conscious of the fact that her breasts were small, her hips on the narrow side, and her arms and legs more well-muscled than was usually thought befitting to a woman.

"She smells strange, though," said Baal. Saiya, lost in self-criticism, was at first terribly confused.

"What?"

"There's a strange smell about her. She's not a normal human, I would stake my reputation on it."

"Do you mean Leah?"

"No, I mean Mary Belle, the grocer's wife," said Baal sarcastically. "Of course I mean Leah. What other person are we talking about?"

Saiya ignored his peevishness. "What does she smell like?"

Baal bit his lip, thinking hard. "She smells … old." When Saiya burst out in a startled laugh, he said, "No, not like that. Not like an old person. I mean that she smells like old paper, or a house that's been abandoned for many years." He growled in frustration. "I'm not putting this into words very well. It's old magic, all right? It smells like musty corpses and dried blood and tombs that have been buried under the desert sands for millennia. Ancient and not of this world."

"I'm not following you at all," Saiya admitted. "Are you saying that Leah is an ancient being or something?"

Baal shook his head. "No, _she's _a young girl. But there's something else there too, an old power, older than a bones of the world, and it makes me uncomfortable. I feel like I must be on my guard around her always."

Strangely enough, Saiya's mood lightened a little after this statement. She supposed that Baal was unlikely to form a deep attachment to Leah if he was uncomfortable around her. Then she wondered why she cared, and was unable to come up with an answer.

"So what is the next thing for you?" she asked. "Are you going to go back and search for the star again?"

"Yes, I intend to," he said, "but I fear it will not be as simple as I first imagined. There is a strong demonic presence lurking in the bowels of the cathedral, far stronger than anything I have ever encountered. I saw it for a moment – just one brief glimpse! – but that was enough to make my blood run cold. I shall have to ask around New Tristram to see if anyone knows the nature of this demon, and how I might be able to defeat it."

"I'll help you," Saiya said at once.

"It'll be dangerous," Baal replied, his tone dissuasive.

Saiya scoffed. "Do you think I've spent the last few days playing with children? You've seen me fight. Besides, if this demon is as strong as you say, you'll need my help."

"All right, then," he said. "Suit yourself."

She stopped in her tracks and squared up to him, catching his eye for the first time since he'd left town two days before. "I have some conditions if we're going to be working together," she said firmly. Baal raised an eyebrow and waited.

She lifted one finger. "First, you won't go running off on your own again without even a word of notice."

"Ah!" he exclaimed, as though something had just clicked for him. "_That's_ why you treated me so frostily when I returned. I _knew_ you were angry about something."

"Well, I was a little taken aback," she said. "I mean, we'd been traveling together for days and we'd come to rely on each other to some degree, plus we were sharing a room … and also, we had the added bond of being previously acquainted in a town where we were both complete strangers. It was kind of rude of you to just ditch me and run off."

"I had business," he said.

"Was it so important that you couldn't have waited even an hour for me to wake up?" she demanded, her irritation renewed by his brush-off. "Or at the _very _least, leave me a note? I had no idea where you'd gone, or when you'd be back! I was actually worried about you, Baal!"

He took a step back from her as her tone rose beyond her control. His face was stunned, as though she'd announced that she'd just returned from a voyage to the moon. After a few dry starts, he finally said, "Shit, Saiya. I never thought that you'd care one way or the other where I was."

Now it was her turn to be as baffled as he was. "You … didn't think … I cared?"

"No; why would you?"

Well. She had no answer for that one.

"I just do," she said after a minute of hard thought. "I think of you as a friend. I mean, I don't know you very well, but I don't want you to _die_!"

"Oh."

Silence.

"Sorry."

It was just one little word, hardly impressive as apologies go, but somehow he managed to sound like a little boy who had been scolded for something that was totally beyond his comprehension, and was offering up embarrassed penance in hopes of being forgiven.

"It's … all right," Saiya said, trying to shake the disturbing feeling that she'd spanked a child. "It's fine. Not really your fault at all. I know you're not used to having to account for yourself to anyone. Just … please, next time, let me know? Okay?"

"Sure," he said, and they both breathed a little sigh of relief that the stressful moment had passed.

"What are your other conditions?" he asked.

Saiya paused a moment before answering. She'd been so worked up about the first one that she hadn't really given much thought to the others, besides deciding that they must exist. Anyone as complicated as Baal required many laws governing her interactions with him.

"You won't try to coddle me or protect me from danger," she said.

"I reserve the right to save your life if I can," he shot back.

"Provided that the act of doing so doesn't endanger your own."

"Agreed."

"Good."

"What else?"

"Um … we'll get equal share of any profits gained from our adventure."

"Fine."

"Aaaand … oh, you have to tell me what's going on in your mind."

"What?"

She blushed. "What I mean is, if you think we're walking into a trap or that someone can't be trusted, then you have to tell me so. Even if I don't agree with you, I want your opinion. I'll also share mine with you. It's part of what having a good partnership means."

"Is that what this is?" he asked, gesturing between them, but there was no spite in his tone, only curiosity.

Saiya nodded decisively. "Yep. If we're working together, then we're partners. So do you agree to give me your honest opinion on anything pertaining to our shared work?"

"I do," he said.

"Good. Um … I think that's all, unless there's anything you want."

"Nope."

They shook hands on it. His grip was firm, his palm dry and warm against hers.

"I have an honest opinion to give you right now, as a matter of fact," he said.

"Oh?" She couldn't prevent her nervousness from seeping into her voice. What if he recanted on their deal? Or decided that he didn't like her? What if –

"I think we should go back to town, get some food, and go to sleep," he said. "I don't know about you, but I'm really tired."

Saiya laughed. "I second that opinion."

Without another word needing to be spoken, they turned about and started the long walk back.


	6. 6 - The Tragic King

**Amor Vincit Omnia**

**(Love Conquers All)**

Chapter Six: The Tragic King

As they walked back to New Tristram, Saiya told Baal about her adventures with Aidel, Pip, and Jan. He in return described how he had gone in search of the hut where Leah's mother, the witch Adria, had dwelt when she lived in the area.

"That place reeked of dark magic," he said. "I don't know about Leah, but her mother was practicing some questionable spells."

The gates were shut tight by the time they returned, but the soldier on duty opened them at once when he saw who approached. It was only once they were inside that Saiya remembered that she had yet to sort out her accommodations for the night. But when she mentioned this to Baal, he said, "That's easy, just come stay with me at Deckard's house."

"But I wasn't invited!" Saiya replied in consternation.

Baal shrugged. "I don't think it'll be a problem."

Leah answered the door when they knocked. If she was surprised to see someone tagging along behind her guest, she concealed it well. With a courtly bow, she stepped back to allow them entry.

"Please, make yourselves at home," she said. "Dinner will be ready in a few minutes."

The house was modestly but comfortably furnished, the warmth of a fire in the hearth and the candles scattered about on every available surface giving it a homey glow. Deckard Cain reclined in an easy chair by the hearth, his injured leg stretched out in front of him, an open book on his lap. Leah, an apron covering her small, tidy figure, was bustling around the kitchen. It was a very domestic scene that made Saiya long for her own home. She repressed a sudden urge to cry and instead set her rucksack by the door and hovered awkwardly on the fringe of the room, not quite relaxed enough to take a seat.

Baal, however, flung himself without ceremony into the chair adjacent to Deckard's and stretched his feet out to the fire with a sigh of total content. "How's the ankle?" he asked the old man.

"Mending nicely, thank you, lad," he answered absently without glancing up. Baal nodded and began a staring contest with the flickering flames.

Hating to be sedentary, Saiya poked her head into the kitchen, where Leah was furiously stirring a pot of soup, and asked if there was anything she could do to help. The other girl beamed at her, saying, "Sure! Want to check the veggies in the oven? They should be about done by now."

Opening the door, Saiya recoiled from the wave of intense heat that flowed forth from within the clay structure. She grabbed a dishcloth and wrapped it around her hand before fishing out a tray on which a medley of vegetables was baking. She identified onions, carrots, peppers, asparagus, and mushrooms, all seasoned with herbs and a touch of citrus. It smelled divine.

Leah directed her to dump the vegetables into a large bowl, which she covered and placed on the small wooden dining table, next to a basket of toasted bread slathered with butter. Next she set the table, and went down into the cellar for a flagon of spiced apple cider. By the time she found it and climbed the ladder with the large ceramic jar tucked carefully under one arm, Leah had the soup dished out. The broth was a dark red color, with little glittering spots of oil on the surface, and filled with generous chunks of potatoes and beef. Saiya's stomach grumbled loudly at the aroma, reminding her that she had eaten next to nothing all day.

Leah called Baal and Deckard in from the other room, and the four of them sat down and tucked in with enthusiasm. For quite some time, the only words spoken were in praise of the food, which touched upon a quality that Saiya had only dreamed of.

As if the heavenly repast had not been enough in itself, once they had all stuffed themselves past the point of reason, Leah disappeared into the kitchen and returned with a circular dish covered by a cloth. Unveiled, it was revealed to be an apple pie, with steam still rising from the golden brown crust. Saiya whimpered and clutched at her already bulging stomach, which rebelled at the mere idea of more food, while Baal armed himself with a fork and attacked the pie lustily.

In the lull after the meal Deckard smoked a pipe filled with pungent tobacco. The heavy smoke hung in the air, filling the room with a blue haze. The smell of it struck a further blow to Saiya's homesickness, reminding her of the head monk's favorite habit of smoking a long pipe in the evening. She found herself beginning to doze off, but was brought back to wakefulness when Baal said, "Tell me, old man, what is the nature of the evil that dwells on the lowest floor of the cathedral? I know you are aware of it, and I mean to destroy it."

Deckard blew out a long stream of smoke. His weary eyes grew even sadder and wearier. "Ah, lad, I knew you would ask," he said. "Have you ever heard the tragic tale of King Leoric?"

"I have heard his name mentioned," Baal said with a frown, "and not with pride. But I do not know more than that he was a hated tyrant."

"Then you know nothing at all," replied Deckard. "He was once our beloved monarch, though he came from a foreign land far to the east. The early years of his rule were characterized by prosperity and good fortune in Tristram, and citizens of the land would take even their most petty quarrels to the High Court so as to have the benefit of his most just and wise council.

"His family were equally as esteemed. His young wife, Asylla, was the fairest queen to grace the throne for centuries, and the love she bore for her people was beyond question. It was not unheard of for a poor widowed woman in labor in a hut alone to suddenly find the Queen at her door with medicines and handmaidens to aid her through the long night; or the eldest son of a poverty-stricken family to find a contract offered for service as a knight of the realm. Asylla had a talent for giving help where it was needed, and never did she ask for anything in return except the people's loyalty to her and her husband.

"And as for their two boys, Aiden and Albrecht … well, the princes were fair and brave, and every young woman in the land longed for their attentions. For a while, the land prospered and all lived in peace and contentment.

"When the change began, it was at first so subtle that few marked it, and even those were not at first concerned. Rumor went around that the King was ill, for he stopped appearing publicly and sent his adviser, the less-well-liked Lazarus, to announce his decrees. Those who did see him reported his appearance to have changed drastically. His wife was still as active in the community as before, but she began to lose the sweet and carefree nature for which she was known. Some even claimed that she bore injuries and signs of abuse, which she concealed behind thick clothing. The princes, who had always been the most devoted of brothers, started to fight with each other, and Aiden became a frequent visitor of taverns and brothels.

"Then came the change in laws. Taxes were raised to an inhuman level. When complaints arose, those making them disappeared in the night, never to be seen again. Before, the people had been free to pursue their own religious ideals, but now they were all required to perform strange and horrific rituals. Any who dared to stand up against the harsh regime was dealt with, first by abduction and then, finally, by public execution. The King even went to far as to declare war on Westmarch, convinced in his paranoia that they were on the brink of invasion. Many loyal knights lost their lives in that unnecessary conflict."

"In several years, the kingdom that had once been idyllic had become a barren land, poverty-stricken, plagued with disease, and covered by the long shadow of a crazed and tyrannical ruler. As much as King Leoric had been adored by his subjects, he was now as much despised. Mentions of his name were accompanied by spitting in the street, and people openly prayed for disaster to fall upon his house and rid the land of his sickened influence.

"Finally it happened, but not in the way anyone could have anticipated. The younger prince, Albrecht, vanished one day, and his father, thinking that his subjects were behind the kidnapping, ordered mass executions to continue until the lad was released. When Lachdanan, the most loyal and devoted follower of the King, returned in defeat from his campaign in the war, he found that he too was accused of conspiracy, though he had been a hundred miles away on the frontlines for months.

"Realizing that the mind of his lord was too far gone for reason to penetrate, Lachdanan broke his own heart and struck down his beloved King, though his grief was so great that afterwards he left the land, most believe to go to his death.

"Though Tristram celebrated its freedom from the tyrant Leoric had become, its people nonetheless mourned the great ruler he had once been. He was buried with honor deep in the cathedral, and the land slowly returned to its former glory.

"But that was not the end of King Leoric. His spirit had become so charged with hate and madness that though his body lay at rest, his soul could find no peace. Before long, a dread sickness, much like the one that plagues us now, spread out from the old cathedral. Our dead rose up from their graves, greatly disfigured and full of murderous rage. It seemed that Tristram would never have its peace.

"But heroes arose, as they have a way of doing in times of need. Aiden, eldest son of the king, took up his sword and slew the demon that had come to be known as the Skeleton King. He wrested the royal crown from the skull of his father's possessed corpse and enshrined it with holy protection in a distant catacomb. The last remnants of Leoric's reign of terror had come to an end."

There was a moment of silence after Deckard's tale had finished. The old man drew deeply on his pipe and puffed out a cloud of smoke.

At last Baal said, "That's a sad story, my friend, but I don't see how it answers my question. If the Skeleton King was destroyed, then what evil lurks in the cathedral?"

"Do you not see, lad?" cried the old man, striking his closed fist on the arm of his chair. "You, with your demon-sniffing nose? When the star fell, it woke the dead … _all of them_! That evil spirit that you saw _was _the dead king Leoric, risen again from his tomb. And if you are to lay him to rest, it must be _properly _this time. Reunite his body with his crown, the source of his power, and then _destroy it_."

"Where can I find the crown?" Baal asked.

"Alas," sighed Deckard, "no one knows precisely where Aiden hid it for safeguarding. There are many forgotten catacombs far to the north; it must lie in one of these, but which?"

"I'll search until I find it, and put this mad king back in this place," Baal vowed. "Your land will have its peace."

"When do you set out?" asked Leah, who had so far been quiet. Baal turned his head sharply in her direction, looking surprised, as if her presence had slipped his mind.

"Tomorrow morning, at first light."

Leah stood decisively. "Then I shall prepare rations for your journey. It will take you longer than a day even to reach the catacombs, not to mention the time spent in searching."

Baal inclined his head. "Your kindness is well marked, Leah, and will not be forgotten."

"I am going as well," said Saiya – as much to remind Baal of their agreement as to notify Leah.

"Then I will pack for two," replied the girl, and vanished into the kitchen.

"I think I shall turn in," Saiya said. Rising, she bowed to Deckard. "Thank you for letting me stay here."

"Don't mention it, my dear," he replied, twinkling at her. He pointed her in the direction of the guest room and she said her good-nights before making her way down the narrow hall to the small edition at the back of the house. There was no bath, and Saiya made up her mind to rise before Baal (if such an aspiration was even possible) and go down to the river to bathe and wash her blood-spattered robe. She lamented the natural loss of her familiar habits that arose from the recent exhaustingly long days. She hastily treated her feet, which were sore and chapped, and barely stayed awake through her ten minutes of mind-clearing meditation: less than half of the time she preferred to devote.

The bed was small, obviously made for a child, and Saiya's feet hung over the edge. She rolled onto her side, pulling her knees up to her stomach, and tried to get comfortable on the thin straw-packed mattress. At least the sheets were clean and the blanket warm, though the woolen material was scratchy on her bare skin. As a result, she was only half-way asleep when Baal finally came in, took off his boots and armor, and settled down in the corner in his customary position.

Saiya tossed and turned quite a bit, and woke in the middle of the night, sweating and feverish. Glancing at the corner, she saw her companion asleep for the first time. His head was thrown back, exposing the long column of his neck. His eyelids fluttered softly, and his hand, which rested on his knee, twitched as if he was clutching at something insubstantial. There was a tiny frown line between his eyebrows. As Saiya watched, his gave a compulsive shiver and curled up a little more.

Driven by some maternal impulse, Saiya rose and draped the woolen blanket over him, tucking it carefully around his shoulders. Delicately, she brushed a lock of hair out of his eyes. It was then she noticed the shadowed skin beneath his lashes was damp.

He was crying in his sleep.

Wanting to comfort him, Saiya gently laid her hand over his. The demon hunter's eyes flew open, faintly glowing pupils fixed upon her own in a direct stare. Saiya shuffled backwards in alarm and fell on her rear. About to apologize for disturbing him, she realized that although his eyes were wide, their gaze was empty and looked right through her. He was still asleep.

"Baal?" she said uncertainly. It was unnerving, that blank, haunted stare.

Baal's lips parted slightly. "Mother," he whispered. Then a heart-wrenching cry, startlingly loud in the quiet room: "Mother!"

"Baal!" Saiya said, shaking his shoulders. He blinked, refocusing his eyes on her face.

"Is it dawn?" he asked, voice slurry with sleepiness.

"No," she said. "You were having a nightmare, so I woke you up."

Immediately he was on the alert. Pulling away from her, he demanded, "Did I say anything?"

"Um … you called out for your mother. That's all."

Looking at Baal's face in that moment was like watching a man raise a shield to defend himself. Up went the wall, the airtight armor, and Saiya knew then that he was not going to tell her what was tormenting him as he slept. She returned to the edge of her cot.

"Sorry for waking you."

He stood and threw on his boots and cloak. "I'm going out," he said, not looking at her.

"When will you return?"

A shrug was the only answer she received. After he left, she listened to the soft tread of his feet growing quieter down the hallway and wondered if she'd done the right thing, dragging him out of his tortured dreams.

It was difficult to return to sleep after that. After a long, restless hour, she rose and wandered out into the pre-dawn gloom. The blacksmith was kindling his forge, and nodded unsmilingly to her as she passed by. Saiya nodded back, making a mental note to ask him about the cracked handle of her brass knuckles before they left town later. Assuming, of course, that Baal was not going to disappear on her again.

Pip was on duty at the main gate. He waved when he saw her, and when she got within speaking distance, he called, "Morning, Saiya! You're up early!"

"Hey there, Pip," she replied. "Have you seen Baal?"

The baby fat under the young man's chin creased as he nodded. "He went out about an hour ago, heading towards the river." Noticing Saiya's downcast expression, he added, "Is everything all right between you two?"

She smiled, but could tell it was unconvincing. "Yeah, everything's fine. Thanks, Pip. I'll be back in a little while."

On a hunch, she walked along the overgrown path towards the ferry. Her bare feet pressed soundlessly against the damp earth, and she brushed ferns and branches out of her way with very little noise. But as quiet as her passage was, when she stepped out of the forest, Baal (who was sitting on the very edge of the dock) said, "I know you're there, Saiya. I can smell you."

Slightly affronted – did she reek, or something? – Saiya approached him and stood still, waiting for an invitation to sit beside him. When none came, she sat anyway. Unable to restrain her curiosity, and also searching for a good conversation opener, she asked, "What do I smell like?"

"Old books and rice and the oil you put on your feet," he replied. "And right now you also have a healthy dose of demon blood clouding up your natural scent."

She studied his face in the growing light. His eyes were half-closed and bore a nostalgic, far-away look, as though he was drowning in memories.

"I'm sorry," she said again, wishing that she knew what she was apologizing for.

Baal turned his head to look at her. "Don't be," he said.

"If it happens again, should I just let you be?"

He thought about it for a minute. "No," he said. "You did the right thing."

Silence. Then he said, abruptly, "I'm not going to tell you about it, so don't ask."

"Okay," she said, accepting that, accepting him. She didn't need to know the details of his past to know that he was a good man, one that she wanted for a friend.

Baal nodded and went back to staring straight ahead, forearms propped on his drawn-up knees, mouth quirked in a smile that Saiya had never seen on him before: a sad, wistful little smile. She lifted an arm and slung it over his shoulders, casually, as if the gesture meant nothing. Baal did not acknowledge it, but neither did he shrug her aside.

For a long stretch of time, they sat together, staring out across the calm expanse of water. The sun rose, staining the east in shades of pink and orange. A little fleet of fishing boats appeared from the docks at Wortham and drifted about on the still river.

Saiya's legs were completely numb by the time that Baal shook himself, stood up, stretched, and said, "We should probably be heading back now. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty hungry."

Saiya fervently agreed, and they walked back with a much quicker pace. Baal seemed to have regained his good spirits, and actually called a friendly greeting to the guard who had replaced Pip.

Leah was up and about when they entered the house, preparing a breakfast of milk and oatmeal. Deckard was still abed, although according to his adopted niece, that was not unusual for him. Saiya ate hurriedly and then, while Baal saw to the packing of their provisions, she took her damaged knuckles down to the blacksmith's forge.

Haedrig grumbled quite a bit, but expertly stripped off the cracked handle and rebound it with a leather grip that was both firm and supple for a very modest fee, which Saiya was easily able to pay, thanks to the wages afforded her by Captain Rumford. While the smith was working, she browsed around his shop and found a polearm that interested her. The metal was engraved with runic signs to bring good fortune to the wielder, and the orb set at either end was imbued with ice magic. But when she inquired about it, Haedrig unabashedly named a price double that of her current means. Sadly, she gave up hope of possessing the beautiful weapon, which Haedrig told her was called the Winter's Gift.

After her visit to the smith, Saiya rejoined company with Baal in the town square. Rumford had come to bid them farewell and safe travels, along with Leah, Deckard, and Pip. Rumford gave her a rough squeeze and warned her to be careful, with a catch in his throat. Pip reached for her hand, then changed his mind and grabbed her up for a bear hug. Saiya let him hold her until the embrace went on for too long, whereupon she laughed and pushed him away, feeling fortunate to have made the friends she had. She inquired after Aidel and Jan, and was informed that they were both healing well and sent their well-wishes.

They left New Tristram on the other side of the town, through the gate that led into the woodsy area that people called the Weeping Hollow. The story behind the name, Deckard informed them as he walked them to edge of town, was a terrible one: a young village girl who gave her heart to one of King Leoric's knights, only to have it broken when he was executed for treason. She refused to eat or sleep after his death, and within a month had wasted away. But her ghost was rumored to haunt the copses and groves where they had met in secret trysts, and her wails of grief could sometimes be heard, echoing between the trees.

There had been some rain the night before, and the air was fresh and clear as they set out, northward. Baal whistled as he walked, and Saiya's heart felt light in spite of her weariness from lack of sleep. They were making good time, and if all went well, by the following morning they would be among the ancient catacombs of the kings, where hopefully the crown they sought would soon be in their hands, and they could bring an end to the darkness that beset the land.


	7. 7 - The Horror of the Crypt

**Amor Vincit Omnia**

**(Love Conquers All)**

**To my guest reader who left a review, thank you very much! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far, and hope that it continues to entertain you! **

Chapter Seven: The Horror of the Crypt

Baal and Saiya reached the northern tombs just as the sun was setting. They made a mutual decision to set up camp further out in the hollow, in an abandoned shack half fallen down. From their position, they could see the vast graveyards that bordered the catacombs, where the countless numbers of Leoric's victims were buried, most without names to mark their final beds.

In the morning, after an uneasy night's sleep, they had cold breakfast and obliterated all traces of their camp. The sky was overcast, and there was an ill wind in the air. Saiya felt on edge, as if she was teetering on the brink of a great abyss. Baal, too, seemed grim.

"Be ready for a fight," he warned her. "We'll avoid as many of them as we can, but in a place like this the risen dead must be without number."

Saiya nodded and took a better grip on her newly repaired brass knuckles.

"I'm turning twenty-four today," Baal said, out of the blue.

"Really?" she exclaimed, surprised but pleased that he'd chosen to share that personal detail. "Well, happy birthday!"

"Thanks." He grinned.

"If we make it back to New Tristram alive, I'll throw you a party," she promised.

"Chocolate cake is my favorite," he said, "if you were looking for suggestions."

Saiya laughed aloud, immediately clapping a hand over her mouth to stifle the noise. But as they set off towards the field of grey headstones, some of the tension had drained from her mind. She reached out and slapped Baal on the shoulder, the way her soldier friends did before a battle.

"I'm glad you're here with me," she said.

He slapped her back. "Same here."

Reaching the first row of graves, Saiya could distinguish shambling shapes in the distance. Baal readied his crossbows and put bolts through the heads of the nearest three. When a corpse burst out of an exposed coffin right next to them, Saiya broke its neck with a kick. They advanced in this pattern, with the demon hunter focusing on the distant enemies and the monk taking care of the ones who managed to get close. Baal glared furiously at the undead outside his firing range, but even he realized that this was not the time to pursue his vendetta against all of demonkind. If they were overwhelmed by a swarm, their lives would end very quickly.

Navigating through the graveyard proved to be tricky, not only because of the many risen, but also because some cataclysm had sundered the earth, tearing great fissures into which they could look and see no bottom – and out of which the other demons climbed: not the corpses possessed but the real children of hell, deformed and twisted and hungry for flesh. When Saiya ventured too near one of the chasms, groping hands stretched up to seize ankles, trying to pull her in. She shrieked, wobbling, and Baal lunged forward to grab her hand and pull her back to safety. After that she steered clear of the cracks in the ground.

At last they were past the graveyard, squeezing through a hole in the bars of the ten-foot iron fence that walled in the catacombs. In the center, where the ground was open, grass crept up between old cobblestones. There was a large round stone laid there, with a strange insignia carved into it.

"That is a portal," Baal said, pointing to it. "The Haradrim are skilled in the making of them. It will be keyed to a certain location, most probably Old Tristram, and if we had the password we could unlock it. Alas, I fear this one is permanently closed to us."

They began to explore the area, searching for viable tombs that might contain the crown. Most of them were sealed off, their doorways collapsed or locked tight. Only three were open to exploration. These bore the signs of forced entry, whether by graverobbers or by Prince Aiden and his men, it was impossible to tell. There was no option but to try them all.

The first tomb they entered was musty and dark, and the stale air reeked of death and decay. Saiya choked at the first breath of it and breathed shallowly through her mouth. Baal took a torch off the wall and lit it, holding it in one hand and his favorite crossbow in the other. The weak yellow light showed a long, crumbling hallway, lined with ceremonial jars of ash. Cobwebs clustered thickly in corners, and insects skittered along the loose cobbles of the floor.

As they passed by a side passage whose opening yawned into blackness, there was a sudden fluttering and squealing, and a swarm of bats rushed out, abnormally large and with beady eyes shining red in the torchlight. Saiya ducked down, but the bats flocked passed right by them, the wind stirred by their wingbeats ruffling her hair, and streamed out through the open door into the outside air.

They continued down the main corridor, which opened up into a wide antechamber, the ceiling of which was supported by decorative pillars. As Baal stepped over the threshold, a high, sepulchral voice rang through the musty air, though there was no living being to be seen.

"Please," it begged mournfully. "Return to me my bones."

"Who is there?" Baal called, torch brandished and crossbow at the ready.

A spectral light appeared in the center of the room and took on a vaguely human shape, shimmering in pale shades of green, blue, and yellow. It held out its upper appendages towards them in a pleading manner.

"I beg of you, return my bones! They are scattered, lost … how can I sleep without my bones? My husband writhes in torment because I do not rest by his side." The voice was feminine and guileless, almost like a child.

"Where are they?" Baal asked.

The ghostly figure gave a helpless shrug and said, "They are among the ashes, where I cannot search for them. Grave robbers took them and threw them away and now I cannot sleep! Please, I beg you, return-"

"All right," Baal interrupted, before she could ask again. "We'll look for your bones. But tell me, does the crown of King Leoric lie in this crypt?"

The ghost shook her head. "This tomb has been sealed since my husband died. There is no crown here."

"Right," Baal said, turning to Saiya. "Let's start looking. I'll take that far corner, and you start over there. Dump the ashes out, look for any bones, and then put them back in the urn where you found them. We don't want to disturb any other spirits while we're trying to lay this one to rest."

Saiya surveyed the long rows of urns with dismay, but seeing Baal set to work gamely, she followed suit, handling the remains of the dead with as much care and honor as she could. She did feel pity for the restless ghost, unable to return to her tomb.

Luckily it seemed that the graverobbers, when playing their cruel trick, had not been devoted enough to separate each and every bone from its compatriots. Saiya found an entire arm stuffed down in one of the urns, bony fingertips jutting out the top. She pulled it out and laid it gently in the empty coffin that occupied center of the room, alongside the pelvis and several ribs that Baal had already uncovered. In half an hour, they had almost the whole skeleton assembled.

It was Saiya who found the skull, in a deep pot in the furthest corner of the room. She lifted it out, thinking that with such fine bone development, the woman to whom it had belonged must have been beyond beautiful when she lived. But as she stood to go and place it in its proper location, there was a disturbance in the ashes and a ragged spirit rose forth, eyes ablaze, mouth distended in a silent scream of fury. It swooped right through her before she could move or even cry out, and it seemed that time stopped–

**BASTARDS! SCUM! DEFILERS OF ALL THAT IS SACRED! HOW DARE YOU? **_**HOW DARE YOU? MY WIFE! MY BEAUTIFUL MARIANA! **_**SHE SHOULD BE BY MY SIDE BUT SHE IS GONE, SHE IS HURT AND ALONE, THOSE FILTH PUT THEIR HANDS ON HER AND TORE HER APART … **_**OH, MARIANA! **_

_He could see the one who had done it, squatting in the corner, shifting through ashes. Searching for treasures that did not belong to him. Lord Dunhyld felt his muscles tense with murderous rage and went for him, intending to put an end to this blasphemy. Reaching the man, he punched him vigorously right in the face. The bastard fell on his back, eyes wide._

"_What the hell, Saiya?" he shouted. _

"_Wretch!" shrieked Lord Dunhyld, spittle flying from his mouth. He launched himself forward and wrapped his hands around the man's throat, choking the life out of him. Let there be another corpse to grace this tomb! See how this man's spirit liked it when his body was dismembered and tossed into different pots! _

"_Sai … ya …" the man gasped, eyes rolling in his head, hands scrabbling at Lord Dunhyld's arms. "Let … me … go!" _

_Lord Dunhyld did not know the name by which he was addressed. There was no Saiya … no! … his vision blurred slightly … his body was rejecting him, trying to cast him back out … Lord Dunhyld remembered that he was dead, his bones still trapped within his coffin, so how was he now strangling the man before him? His grip faltered and he flew back, out of the corporeal form he had been inhabiting. He could see now that it was a young woman, not near so lovely as his Mariana. The same woman who had lifted up his darling's skull from the place where it had been thrown. _

_The man pushed the woman off of him, grabbed up Mariana's skull, and set it down again somewhere behind Lord Dunhyld. Turning, he saw his wife lying complete in her stone bed in the center of the antechamber, all her pretty bones back together and in their rightful place. He sighed deeply, feeling the urge to sleep again claim him. His wife was waiting for him. Mariana …_

Saiya returned to consciousness with a jolt. Her head ached fiercely and the contents of her stomach were very unstable. She was lying on her back on the cold floor, the uneven cobbles digging into her spine.

"Ugh," she groaned, sitting up and clutching at her forehead. "What happened?"

Baal appeared in her line of vision and crouched down in front of her. There was a smudge of dried blood under his nose, and he was regarding her in a resigned way.

"You got yourself possessed by an angry husband," he said. "Had us confused with the graverobbers who defiled his wife's bones. I have to say, Saiya, you throw a mean right hook."

Horrified, she said, "I didn't attack you, did I?"

Baal gestured to his nose. "Well, I didn't get this by falling down the stairs."

"I'm _so _sorry!" she blurted out, face beet red with a mixture of embarrassment, shame, and dismay. "I didn't mean to! Are you all right?"

"No, I think I'm going to die," he quipped with mock seriousness. When she scowled at him, he laughed and said, "Yes, of course I'm fine, and yes, I know that you had no intention of breaking my nose. That's the definition of 'possession': that some other being has control over your body." Rubbing his neck, he added, "Luckily you snapped out of it before you completely strangled me."

About to launch into another profuse apology, she caught the teasing glimmer in his eye and decided not to indulge him any more. Instead, she cleverly diverted his attention by asking about ways to fight off demonic possession, and what to do if someone around you had been possessed. Baal informed her the physical pain nearly always severed the connection, and that in cases of people with unusually strong will-power, a simple call of their name might suffice.

Saiya was feeling distinctly unwell after the spectral invasion, so they left the gloomy, rank crypt and sat on a pile of loose boulders to eat some lunch. Baal made her take a drink from a small flask he had in his pack. The liquid within left a trail of fire down her throat. She coughed as the vapors stung her nose.

"What _is _this?" she asked.

"It's called brandy," Baal replied. "It's a particularly concentrated form of wine. I got it from Deckard's cellar. Strong alcohol like this, taken in very small doses, is excellent for clearing the head and purifying the spirit after a demonic encounter."

Indeed, Saiya's head felt clearer already, and her stomach was filled with a pleasant warmth. She had always thought contemptuously of the drooling drunkards that she saw outside of taverns – the unshaven, unwashed, bleary-eyed men and promiscuous painted women – but she had to admit the stuff wasn't half bad as medicine. Like any other poison, beneficial in small amounts and harmful if over-indulged.

The next catacomb that they entered was small and full of rats, with no other living (or formerly living) thing in sight. Baal speculated that because it was the oldest of the crypts, the inhabitants had disintegrated past the stage of usefulness to spirits looking for a vessel.

The final tomb had a different feel to it. The air seemed charged with electricity, and the pockets of shadow between the pillars seemed more sinister than in the previous vaults. The situation got really strange when they began to find the bodies of demons and risen dead scattered over the floor, all of them recently killed. Some of them had tiny feathered darts sticking out of their eyes, while others bore scorch marks, or were broken into frost-covered chunks of flesh.

"We should be wary," Baal told her, leaning down to whisper the words in her ear. His breath was warm on her skin.

"What is it?" Saiya whispered back. "A more powerful demon?"

"I don't think so," he replied, doubtfully shaking his head. "Demons don't use poison darts. I think we're dealing with a human adversary here – a skilled magician – possibly more than one. Until we know what they're after, we should proceed with caution."

The main hallway was blocked by a fall of rock about two hundred feet into the crypt, so they had to backtrack and try a side passage. Their unknown predecessor had been this way as well, to judge by the trail of corpses. Saiya fervently hoped that whoever it was, they did not meet; especially here, in the dark, surrounded by the leering dead. She was confident in her ability to fight against demons, but not sorcerers.

Baal promptly destroyed that fantasy when he examined one of the cadavers and announced, "Still warm. This imp was alive not less than an hour ago. Our demon-killer hasn't left yet."

This catacomb was much larger than the last two, with many interconnecting passages, and twice they realized that they were walking in circles. It was Saiya who suggested a method of keeping track of their progress: at intersections, she would chant a short mantra, which would leave behind a silvery residue of holy magic. If they happened upon a brightly glowing floor tile, then they were retracing their steps.

At last, rounding a corner, they came upon a massive stone door that had been shattered into pieces. In front of it was a gargantuan demon encased in ice. The monster was easily twice Saiya's height, and its midsection was like the base of a mighty oak. Its head was absurdly small on its shoulders, a walnut perched on a boulder, and half of its face was a huge maw crowded with crooked fangs. Above this two beady eyes glittered malevolently through the icy shield. But most horrifying of all were the arms: stretching almost to the creature's knees, they were not limbs so much as clubs of bone and spines, swollen and grotesque.

"He's a real beauty, isn't he?" said Baal. "I've seen his kind before, though I've never fought one. They feed on the pain and fear of the living, vicious, brutal, and aggressive. And they are notoriously difficult to kill. It seems that our mysterious mage has done us a service by trapping this one."

Filled with morbid curiosity, Saiya took a few steps forward so she could examine the thing more clearly. When she did, she recoiled in disgust. It was not one monster at all, but many: festering corpses fused together in hideous ways, mouths and eyes appearing where they had no right to be. What she had initially taken to be protruding shards of bone were actually jagged rock, slick with blood and pus.

"Oh, Gods," she groaned, turned away and feeling the urge to vomit. "How does such an abomination even come to exist?"

"Well, when a lot of bodies are buried at once, in the same grave-" Baal began, but his voice was drowned out by a cracking noise from the frozen behemoth. Saiya turned to look, and raised her arms to cover her face just in time.

The ice exploded outwards, bits of freezing shrapnel embedding in her forearms, side, and thigh. She staggered back, tripped on a loose cobblestone, and fell hard. Winded, she could only stare up in terror at the giant undead bearing down on her, multiple mouths gaping open, club-like arms raised high in preparation for a death-blow.

A barrage of crossbow bolts distracted the creature long enough for her to roll out of the way. When it did strike, a few inches to the left of her head, the twelve-inch spikes pierced the floor with the ease of a hot knife through butter.

Saiya tried to scramble up, but had to duck down again, cheek pressed to the cold stone, as the thing swiped to the side. Baal vaulted towards it, weaving acrobatically between the flailing blows, and leaped up onto it. Planting a boot in two different mouths, he seized hold of a spine on one shoulder and used his free hand to jam one of his bombs in the main maw. Then he flipped off backwards, planting a few more bolts in its head for good measure.

The fuse on the bomb ran out and there was a blast that hurt Saiya's ears and echoed around the halls of the crypt. Smoke shrouded the demon's topmost head. When it cleared, she saw that the lower jaw had been ripped clean off by the force of the detonation, and a long furrow ran down the rotting flesh of the chest. The behemoth tottered on its short legs, swaying in place … but it did not fall. Instead, it unleashed an ear-splitting roar and charged at Baal with a speed that belied its bulk. He dodged but only just, and the spikes shredded the fabric of his cloak to rags.

Saiya forced her aching body to stand, knowing that Baal could not take on this creature alone. It was too fast, too powerful, too full of hate and the desire to kill. As it rushed him again, she jumped onto its back, clinging with one arm while she pounded her free fist into the base of its skull as hard as she could. All her frenzied attacks barely slowed it down.

The demon struck again, and Baal ducked under, but too late he realized that the blow was not meant for him, but for the pillar at his back, smashing it into rubble. Without the great column supporting its weight, a large section of the ceiling caved in directly onto Baal's head. Saiya could see him moving under the pile of dirt and pebbles, but he was unable to rise in time, and the monster brought both arms crashing down.

Saiya's vision went blank. A small voice within her wailed uselessly: _he's dead, he's dead, he's dead! _but the rest of her seemed paralyzed, unable to think or act. Then the behemoth spun, and she was thrown off its back and struck a wall, landing in a jumble of bruised limbs.

_There's no winning this fight, _she realized. _This is it for me. The end of the line. The last adventure. I'm going to die here, just like Baal, and our bodies will be absorbed into this foul thing's bloated bulk, and we'll decay and putrefy and add to its evil. _She felt surprisingly calm, considering that a two-ton ball of decomposing corpses was rapidly heading her way.

_**Saiya! **_

It was the voice of the head monk, as loud and clear as if he was standing right next to her. She actually turned her head to look, half-expecting to see him, but there was only empty air.

_**The bell! **_cried the voice.

Saiya suddenly felt very foolish. Of course, the bell! She had used it once before, and it had saved her from certain death. Closing her eyes, she summoned the memory of a peal so deep it shook her to the core.

She could _sense _it there, answering her call. She opened her eyes and it was right there before her, a great transparent cylinder as tall as she, engraved with mystic runes. She clenched her fist and struck it with all her might.

_**Clang! **_The sound rang out, shaking the cobbles of the floor. A ripple passed through the air, an inexorable force. It passed right through the charging behemoth and blasted it apart. Pieces of stinking matter rained down all across the room, and a mist of blood hung in the air. The demon was no more.

Saiya fell to her knees, feeling completely drained of energy. She crawled over to the pile of debris where Baal lay unmoving. With shaking hands, she dug through the dirt and pulled him out, rolling him onto his back. His face was very pale.

Hardly aware of the tears welling up in her eyes and hazing her vision, Saiya pressed her fingertips against the big vein in his neck, searching desperately for a sign of life. Amazingly, she picked up a sluggish pulse.

She lifted his head and rested it in her lap, stroking the dusty hair out of his face, which looked so peaceful in unconsciousness. "Wake up, Baal," she whispered. "Please. Wake up."

Seconds passed, each seeming longer than the last. Then, his eyelashes fluttered and he gazed up at her with faintly glowing and slightly unfocused eyes.

"Saiya?" he mumbled.

"Oh, thank Gods, you're all right," she gasped out, nearly laughing in her relief.

"'Course I am," he said, the beginnings of a grin playing on his lips. "What, were you worried?"

She punched him gently, not wanting to hurt him more than he was already.

"Did you get the bastard?" he asked.

Saiya nodded. "He's all over the floor."

"Good," he said. Then, frowning a little, "Were you ringing a _bell?_"

"I'll explain later. Right now, we've got to get you to a healer."

His frown deepened. "Whatever for? I told you, I'm fine." To prove, he sat up to reveal a back that was very much whole and unmarred, contrary to her belief that he'd been poked full of holes by the massive spiked arm that had struck him full on.

"Huh? How?" she stammered, unable to properly articulate her sheer amazement.

Rather than answering her verbally, Baal brushed aside the loose soil to reveal two deep gouges in the stone floor where he'd lain. Stretching out prone in the exact position where she'd found him, he demonstrated that the demon's spines had missed impaling him by mere centimeters on either side. He'd gotten away with nothing worse that an impressive bruise on his back, where the smooth part of the flesh-club had landed.

Saiya shook her head over his supernatural luck and took inventory of her own injuries. They were not overly severe: sore ribs, various scrapes, and some minor cuts from the shards of ice, which had long since melted.

Leaning on each other, they limped past the demon smeared all over the cobbles and through the broken doorway into the room beyond. It was a long, narrow tomb, obviously built to house someone of great importance. A row of less impressive coffins lay open, their inhabitants wearing the armor of the royal guards.

At the far side of the crypt was an altar, with niches in it for a crown to rest. Baal took an eager step forward and then stopped dead, dumbstruck.

The altar top lay empty. The crown was not there.


	8. 8 - Enter Caesar

**Amor Vincit Omnia**

**(Love Conquers All)**

Chapter Eight: Enter Caesar

Weary, battered, and demoralized, they staggered out of the dank crypt into the hazy afternoon light and made their way back to the previous night's camp spot in silence. Neither had much of an appetite. Baal sat hunched over, head in his hands, while Saiya stripped off her robe and sponged the blood and grit out of the cuts dotting her body.

"What do we do now?" she asked finally.

Baal dropped his hands and looked up at her, defeat on his face. "We head back to New Tristram and tell them that we failed."

"What?" said Saiya, shocked to hear him giving up so easily. "There has to be another way to defeat the Skeleton King! It's been done before."

"Yes, but never permanently. Face it, Saiya, we've lost our chance. Someone beat us to the finish line, and whoever that is, they're in control of the situation now. I only hope that they intend to use the crown to destroy the demon, and not for some other purpose."

Saiya nodded glumly. Knowing that her body needed nourishment, she mechanically ate a piece of bread and washed it down with some of their precious clean water. She tried to meditate, but her thoughts were jumbled and refused to settle, so she eventually gave up and laid out her bedroll, stretching out with her head pillowed on her bunched up robe, staring up at the grey sky. She wanted a bath, but there was no untainted stream within walking distance.

Baal got up, and she heard him moving through the thick shrubbery around their camp, but he returned a few minutes later, and she figured that he'd just gone to relieve himself. When he settled back down, he let out a sharp hiss of discomfort that got her attention.

"What is it?" she asked, sitting up.

"Nothing," he replied, looking embarrassed. When she leveled a flat stare at him, he sighed and said, "My back is a bit sore."

"Let me see," she said, fetching the healing supplies from her pack and scooting over to where he sat.

"Huh?"

"Take off your shirt and let me see," she repeated. Baal hesitated, and she said, "Don't be ridiculous; I've seen you fully naked, remember?"

Rolling his eyes, he nonetheless removed his tattered cloak, pauldrons, and reinforced breastplate and set them neatly aside before taking off his plain black undershirt and turning around so she could see the damage.

It was far worse than she would have guessed by his cavalier attitude. His middle back was one massive bruise, the skin at the contact site red and raised and dotted with beads of blood. The surrounding area was blossoming into shades of deepest blue. When Saiya gently ran a hand over it, he flinched, the muscles in his back trembling under her touch.

"This is pretty bad," she said quietly. "I'm going to rub some cream into it and put a bandage on, but you should probably sleep on your stomach tonight so you don't injure it further."

"I don't have a bedroll," he said.

"You can sleep on mine," she offered unthinkingly.

"What about you, though?"

"Oh." She thought about it. "I'll just … sleep on the grass. It's not too bad."

"Well, if you're sure," Baal said, still reluctant.

Saiya dabbed the soothing cream on her fingers and spread it over his back, massaging it in as tenderly as she could. It was still painful for him, she could tell by the rigidity of his posture and the way he clenched his teeth, but he made not a sound. After she treated his wound she laid a clean cloth over it and wrapped his entire torso snugly in bandages, from his armpits to just above his navel. She marveled at how smooth the skin on his back was, the faint down between his shoulder blades, a single dark mole just to the left of his neck.

"By the way," Baal said, breaking the silence, "I haven't thanked you properly yet."

"What for?" Saiya asked.

He turned his head so that he could look at her from the corner of his eye. "You saved my life. That monstrosity would have continued to batter me until I was pulp if you hadn't stepped in."

"I was just returning the favor," Saiya replied modestly. "You actually saved _my _life first, when you attacked it as it was trying to do me in. Anyway, you don't need to thank me. Friends watch each other's backs."

"Are we friends?" Baal asked bluntly.

"I can't answer for you," said Saiya, "but for my part, yes, you're my friend."

He seemed confused, which in turn confused her, because in Saiya's mind, _friendship was pretty simple. _It wasn't the sort of thing you had to negotiate, like a business partnership. Either two people liked each other and were friends, or they disliked each other and weren't. She liked Baal and enjoyed his company, and she assumed that the feeling was mutual. Hence, they were friends.

A moment later, Baal explained his confusion by saying, quite matter-of-factly, "I don't know, honestly, because I've never really had a friend before."

Saiya was too shocked at first to reply. Even growing up in the temple, surrounded by grumpy, stern old men, she had developed friendships. With Jijamae, the fat, motherly woman who had done all of the cooking and cleaning at the temple; she called Saiya her 'little duckling', and fed her all sorts of extravagant treats. With Miki and Mimi, the twin girls from the village. With Piotr, the other child living at the temple. Piotr was five years younger than herself and a deaf-mute, and had run away from an abusive father who would beat him until he lost consciousness. He was painfully shy and timid at first, but had gradually warmed to the monks and Saiya as he came to trust them.

Even after she left the temple, Saiya had no problems making friends. Captain Rumford … Aidel, Jan, and Pip … even Baal himself. She wondered what it would be like to have no close human connections, no one to care about your fate. It seemed like a lonely, joyless existence.

"Well, you've got a friend now, if you want one," she said, smiling at him.

"Alright," said Baal. He smiled back: not his usual smirk but a real, open grin. An unbidden urge to lean forward and kiss him took hold of her mind.

Fortunately, in the moment before her body caught up with her mind, Baal turned away, saying, "Damn, I'm starving," and began to rustle through their food bag. Saiya excused herself and all but fled until she was out of his sight and could sit down on a rock and wonder what the hell had just happened to her brain. Baal's words from their first meeting came floating back to her: _"You _are _just a child." _At the time she had been indignant, but now she felt keenly her inexperience with such matters as romance and sex.

As a monk-in-training, she had yet to take the vows of chastity that the rest of her order were famous for. That was, in fact, part of the reason why the head monk had sent her out into the world: he wanted her to have the opportunity to fall in love, to make love, to find out for herself whether a life of celibacy and prayer was the right one for her. She had been ordered to return to the monastery if – and only if – she did make that choice.

But Saiya didn't _know _what she wanted. She had never before felt much of an inclination to have sex or to take a lover. She was mildly curious about it in the way that one might be curious about a foreign food one had never tried. But she had hardly sought it out; if anything, she tried to avoid men who had seemed interested in her.

But if Baal was interested in her as a potential partner, he didn't show it. He barely accepted her as a friend. In a way, Saiya thought, developing an attraction to Baal was safer because it was less likely to lead her into a decision she would later regret. On the other hand, she wasn't even sure that she _was _attracted to him. The random pulse of desire she had felt was gone as suddenly as it had come. So, she reasoned, there was no need to read too much into her weird, fleeting compulsion to kiss him. He was male, he was good-looking and not a threat; that's all there was to it. A coincidence. She resolved to think no more about the matter.

Returning to the campsite, she found Baal tinkering with his favorite crossbow. When she asked what he was doing, he replied that he was working on a way to make it fire faster. She left him to it and resumed her mediation, this time going so deep that dusk had already fallen when she next opened her eyes. Baal had finished his alterations, and was testing the new rapid-fire mechanism on a fallen log. It spat out bolts at a much improved rate.

They ate dinner cold again, still unwilling to risk a fire so close to the graveyard, and then Baal laid down face first on Saiya's bedroll. Within minutes he was asleep, his back rising and falling slowly, quiet snores coming from his open mouth. Saiya, trying to get comfortable on the ground (which was somehow full of rocks, thorns, and holes where there had been none before), watched him slumber until she drifted off herself.

Neither of them woke until the sun was already well up the sky. The aches of the previous day were twice as bad after a night of tossing and turning. Saiya could barely move her arms, and judging by his bleary scowl, Baal felt just as sore.

They wasn't much conversation as they started the long trek back to New Tristram. Saiya simply couldn't think of anything to say that would not sound ridiculous. _"I wanted to kiss you last night, but I changed my mind," _was hardly a good note to start a discussion on. What she really wanted to ask was what Baal intended to do next if defeating the Skeleton King was no longer an option. Would he skip town and go hunting elsewhere? Try to find an alternative method? Most importantly, was she still welcome to travel with him, or was he eager for their impromptu partnership to end? All of these were questions she badly wanted answers to, but she was afraid to know what he might say.

As slowly as they were walking, on account of their battered condition, they did not reach the town by nightfall, and were forced to camp out again – thankfully by a fresh stream this time. Saiya scrubbed her robe thoroughly, hung it on a bush to dry, and then jumped in herself. The water was shallow, barely rising to her waist, and the creek bed was unpleasantly muddy, but it was clean, and that was what she wanted.

After her long-awaited bath, she removed Baal's bandages so his wound, which had been compressed under the cloth and his skin-tight clothing all day, could get some air. It looked uglier, as bruises always do the next day, but Baal winced less frequently as she rubbed more ointment onto it. They sat around the small fire, him shirtless and her in only her underclothes, and exchanged stories, competing to see who could come up with the wildest tale, the only condition being that the story told had to be absolutely true. Baal took the prize with an outlandish narrative featuring a flock of flamingos, a barrel of the finest Caldeum rum, and a pair of lacy garters; although Saiya's relating of the adventures of a cheese-obsessed poltergeist that haunted the monastery for a week before being exorcised was a close second. It was absurdity, but it helped relieve some of the tension that had been brewing since their discovery that the crown was missing.

That night, Baal slept on her bedroll again, and Saiya stretched out on the short grass on the other side of the fire. She woke up several times, hearing noises in the darkness: twice an owl, once something more sinister that ventured near but was rebuffed by the barrier of her protective mantra. At dawn, she opened her eyes to find that her back was soaked with dew and a spider had spun a web from her cheek to her shoulder. Saiya shuddered and swatting it quickly away. She hated spiders.

As it turned out, they had made camp only a few miles outside of New Tristram. As they approached the northwest gate, a man's voice hailed them from the stockade wall. Saiya recognized him as Captain Rumford and waved back.

The Captain came running out to meet them. "I watched all yesterday for your return," he panted. "I was beginning to grow concerned. Are either of you injured?"

"Just a few bumps and bruises," Saiya reassured him. "Nothing serious. Why were you worried, Captain?"

"Well, the crown-"

"We didn't find it," Baal interrupted brusquely.

"I know," said Rumford. "Caesar got to it first. He and his companion brought it into town the day before yesterday."

"What!" cried Baal, outraged.

"Who?" said Saiya.

"Sorry," said Rumford, "I thought you'd already made his acquaintance. Caesar is the wizard who came into town shortly after you two. We had no idea he was also seeking the crown, or we would have warned you."

"He must have been the one who slew all those demons in the crypt," Saiya said to Baal. "But how did he get back so fast?"

"Warping," Baal replied through gritted teeth. "He's a mage, remember?" Seething, he kicked at a nearby stone and sent it flying into the woods.

"At least you're back safe and sound," Rumford said, trying to placate him. "Caesar said that he'd seen no trace of anyone else while he was at the catacombs, so I had begun to fear the worst. I was on the verge of leading a search party."

"We appreciate it, Captain," Saiya said, patting his arm.

"Where is that little bastard?" Baal demanded. "I have a few things to say to him."

Rumford looked alarmed. "I don't think-"

"Just tell me!"

"At Haedrig's smithy," the captain said. "Overseeing the repair of the crown."

Baal stormed off without another word. He had not drawn his crossbows, but his fists were clenched and every movement spoke of his violent intentions. Rumford put a hand over his eyes and cursed under his breath.

"I'll go with him," Saiya said, and sprinted after her friend. She didn't have time to take her brass knuckles out of her rucksack, but she doubted that they would be useful anyway if Baal picked a fight with a wizard, especially one capable of such destruction.

Baal was already inside the smithy when she burst through the double doors. She was just in time to catch the tail end of his angry sentence: "-you outside, now!"

Haedrig was not there, but the two people they were looking for were standing by the forge. One of them – the male – Saiya knew on sight, though she hadn't connected him with the sorcerer she had heard of.

"Baal," she murmured, "that's the man who took our room at the inn."

"Oh, I know you," said the wizard, not at all bothered by two angry, well-armed people charging in upon him. "You're the girl from the Slaughtered Calf. Your name is Sala, isn't it?"

"_Saiya_," she corrected, with a bite in her tone.

"Oh, that's right. My apologies, Saiya." He turned a deadpan gaze on Baal. "And you are?"

"Someone you don't want as your enemy," Baal growled. "I want that crown behind you. Give it up and there won't be any problems."

"Problems!" laughed the wizard. "What problems-"

In an instant he was sighting down the barrel of a crossbow pointed right at his nose. Saiya dropped into a fighting crouch, prepared to back her friend up if necessary. She didn't think that Baal truly intended to murder Caesar, much as he might deserve it, but she wanted to be ready in case the wizard and his friend fought back.

Caesar was still laughing, apparently not the slightest bit intimidated. He did not flinch when Baal fired a precursor shot into the post just to the right of his head. His companion was also at ease; she was a strange one. Her age was indeterminable – she could have been in her twenties or her fifties, it was impossible to tell. She had smooth skin as dark as ebony, and a tangle of black hair with feathers and bones woven in. Her attire was tribal in nature, and her face was devoid of any emotion, jet-black eyes watching the commotion impassively.

"Cool down," said Caesar, and with a wave of his wand, Baal's boots were frozen to the floor and he was holding a perfect ice sculpture of a crossbow. The demon hunter swore loudly and tried to move, but his feet would not budge. He overbalanced and landed awkwardly on his rear, the soles of his shoes still fixed firmly to the wood by the clinging ice.

Saiya started forward, but the wizard swished his wand again and she was relocated to the rafters before she could blink. Furious, she nonetheless had to admit that she and Baal were outclassed in this instance, and would never be able to win on brute force alone. For a moment, she contemplated unleashing the power of her bell (_let's see if that ass finds anything to smirk about _then_!) _but it only seemed to be an option in life-or-death situations. Besides, she had no wish to destroy Haedrig's smithy. No, she would have to be trickier.

Caesar was advancing now, wand outstretched, confident that he had the upper hand. He stopped right in front of Baal, who was struggling to free himself.

"Well now," said the wizard, "are you ready to talk sensibly, or do you want to keep going? I have an unlimited number of ways to mess with you, you know. I could freeze you completely and put you in the town square as a lovely ice statue. I could warp you right to the other side of the world. Or … I know! You're a cocky fellow … how would you like to be a chicken for a while? Great for the humility, chickenhood, it really teaches you your place. Yes, I rather think life as a chicken would suit you _very _well."

"Baal!" Saiya called down from her spot in the rafters. He looked up at her, and she shut both eyes tight and shouted, "You're doing it all wrong. Remember the _first thing you taught me_!" She hoped that he would correctly understand her meaning, but there was no time to wait and see. Taking one of the blinding powder balls out of her pocket, she chucked it as hard as she could right at Caesar's feet.

It had the desired effect. Baal closed his eyes, but Caesar staggered back as a cloud of sparkling dust enveloped him. He dropped his wand to rub at his eyes with both hands, and that's when Saiya jumped down from the roof beams, grabbed the front of his vest, and punched him in the face.

"That's for taking over my room," she snapped, and punched him again. "That's for stealing the crown." She punched him one last time and dropped him on the floor. "And _that's _for nearly killing us by freezing that stupid behemoth and not finishing it off. _Now _do you want to talk?"

Caesar stared up at her through streaming eyes. His nose was gushing blood; Saiya was pretty sure she'd broken it but she couldn't bring herself to care. It was not acceptable for a monk to take pleasure in causing others pain … but _damn_, it had felt good to hit him.

Baal, freed now from the binding ice, came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Good work, Saiya." He bent down to picked up Caesar's wand. "I think _I'll_ hold onto this in the meantime."

Caesar looked over at his silent companion, who held up her hands as if to say, _"This isn't my fight, I'm staying out of it." _The wizard got slowly to his feet, holding a hand over his nose.

At that moment, the door opened and Haedrig entered, hammer in hand. He stopped dead at the sight before him and bellowed, "What in the fires of Hell is going on in here?"

"Sorry," Saiya said guiltily. They had not made much of a mess, but still … it was rude to have a brawl in someone else's establishment. "We were about to go outside."

She stepped out through the open door, and Baal motioned for Caesar to follow her. He brought up the rear, and shut the door behind him. Out in the sunlight, all three stood looking at each other for a long moment.

"Alright," Caesar said, his voice thick and indistinct through his swollen and bloody nose. "I can see that I've managed to piss both of you off. But I have no quarrel with either of you. Really."

"Well, we've got a quarrel with _you_," snarled Baal. "Thanks to your interference, our long journey to the north was completely wasted, and we almost lost our lives to an enemy that you neglected to kill."

Caesar shrugged, arms outstretched with palms facing upwards. "How was I supposed to know that anyone would be going through there after me? As for the crown, you had no claim on it. I'm sorry that you were inconvenienced, but I got it first, fair and square. Unless you want to fight me for it, there's not too much you can do."

"We _need _that crown," Saiya exclaimed, frustrated by his selfishness. "It's the only way to save this land from the demon plague. What are _you _going to do with it: hang it on your wall?"

Caesar frowned. "Actually, I have the same goals that you do. Ghor and I came here seeking the fallen star, and King Leoric stands in our way. We want to destroy him as well." Then his face brightened. "Why don't we team up? With my magic, Ghor's voodoo arts, Saiya's fists, and your experience fighting demons, we would be invincible!"

"No thanks," said Baal coldly. "Just hand over the crown and bugger off. Saiya and I are fine on our own; you're not needed."

Saiya rolled her eyes. He could be so childish sometimes! Grabbing his arm, she hissed, "Can I talk to you?" and dragged him far enough away that their conversation would be private.

"What's your problem?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What's _yours_?" she countered. "I think it's a logical course of action."

He looked at her as if she'd gone insane. "I don't want to work with them," he said. "I don't trust them. Have you forgotten that their carelessness almost cost us our _lives_?"

"No, I haven't," said Saiya, "but I do believe that it was an accident. And he's right that we'll have a better chance of defeating the Skeleton King if we all work together."

Baal shook his head in disgust. "A few minutes ago you were beating him up. Now you want to work with him. Well, Saiya, throw in with them if you want to, but I refuse."

"Don't be so difficult," she pleaded. "You have to admit that it makes sense."

"No."

"But-"

"And that's final." He turned to leave.

"Wait!" cried Saiya in one last-ditch attempt to make him see reason. "Baal, can't you see that it's better to have them with us where we can keep an eye on them than out of our sight? Even if we do get the crown back from them, what's to stop them from teleporting right to the cathedral and getting ahead of us anyway?"

Baal hesitated, started to walk away again, and then turned back with a sigh of frustration. "I don't like it," he said, "but I guess you're right."

Saiya restrained a grin, not wanting him to think she was gloating. She nodded, and together they walked back to where Caesar was waiting.

"We've decided to accept your offer," Baal said, without preamble, "but only until we beat the Skeleton King. After that we're done, got it?"

The wizard inclined his head. "Agreed. I don't think that you'll regret it."

"I'd better not," Baal muttered.

**A/N: I've done a bit of editing on the story; hope it shows. Mostly minor grammatical changes and plot points, but I have included a more thorough description of Caesar in an earlier chapter, when Saiya first meets him. **


	9. 9 - An Uneasy Truce

**Amor Vincit Omnia**

**(Love Conquers All)**

**Sorry about the long wait between chapters, everyone! My life suddenly got really busy. I'll try to update sooner next time. Hope it was worth the wait!**

Chapter Nine: Uneasy Truce

"Brilliant!" said Caesar. "May I have my wand back now?"

Baal glanced down at the weapon in his hand as if he'd forgotten it was there. Flipping it around, he offered it to the wizard handle first. It was a strange-looking instrument: at first glance just a gnarled twig with a few small offshoots, about a foot in length, but when inspected closer a dark red aura was faintly visible, surrounding the nearly black wood.

Caesar took his wand, and for one terrible moment Saiya thought he was going to spell them, just as he had threatened. But he did not, merely tucked the wand into his belt and went back inside the smithy. Baal and Saiya followed after him.

Baal still radiated displeasure, but Saiya was ready to let bygones be bygones. She wouldn't go so far as to say she _liked _the uppity mage, but she was willing to give him a chance, now that she'd gotten most her anger at him out of her system.

At the forge, Haedrig was putting the final touches on the crown. He was using an absurd hammer with a long, thin handle and a head the size of a human thumb. It made high plinking noises as he tapped away, refining the point of the crown's central spire. In his huge hands, it looked like a child's toy.

"I trust you all have settled your differences," said the smith gruffly.

"Indeed we have," Caesar replied. Turning, he spread out his arms in a gesture of magnanimity and said, "It occurs to me that we have not yet been formally introduced. I am Caesar la Volpes, formerly of the Thaumaturgy Guild in Xiansai."

"King of the Foxes, eh?" said Baal. "That seems fitting." He did not volunteer his own identity.

"My name is Saiya," said Saiya, "from the Temple of the High Sun in Ivgorod."

"I am Ghor," said a deep, slow voice from the shadows. Saiya looked around to see Caesar's female companion. Her thick accent made her words hard to understand. Saiya had never seen one like her before, but she had heard of the umbaru peoples from the far south of Sanctuary, where the sun was so hot that it would burn the skin of anyone fooling enough to venture out into its rays uncovered.

"They call me Baalzibal," said the demon hunter at last. "Baal for short."

Caesar and Ghor exchanged a meaningful glance and Saiya wondered what they made of the unusual moniker. She herself had often wondered what her friend's real name was – surely his parents had not named him after one of the Great Evils of the world! – but that topic belonged to the forbidden categories of The Past and Family both, and Saiya knew that should she ask, she would not receive an answer.

The background noises of Haedrig's hammerwork ground to a halt, and the smith said, "Finished at last. Leoric's Crown, just as it was the day they set it on the Black King's head. Take it, all of you, and get it out of my smithy."

Caesar reached out to pick up the finished crown, but Baal, quick as a wink, blocked his path. "I'll hold onto it," he said.

"You don't trust me?" asked the wizard, a faint smile hovering on his lips.

"Not at all."

"I'm hurt," he said. "I thought we had a truce."

Saiya stepped in to mediate before the tense exchange could degenerate into another fistfight. "It would be better if we kept it anyway," she said. "You don't know what sort of demonic influence is hanging around that thing. Baal and I have ways of dealing with that so no one gets hurt."

Caesar bowed to her, saying, "I defer to my lady's wishes." At least he had some manners, she thought, and allowed herself to hope that Baal might take a lesson from him.

"When do we head out?" asked Ghor. She already seemed to know without being told that they were working together.

Baal opened his mouth, but Saiya interrupted before he could say a word. "Actually, we have a few things we need to do here in town first. Could we meet, say, by the main gate tomorrow morning at dawn?"

"Why can't we leave now, if they're ready?" Baal complained. "_I _don't have anything to do here."

"But I do," said Saiya. She could see that he was in an argumentative state of mind, so she put on her most persuasive smile and said, "Please? One day isn't going to make a difference."

"All right," Baal sighed.

"Well," said Caesar, "I'm off to see Brother Malachi." He pointed to his nose with a rueful smile. "Until tomorrow morning, then!" He left and Ghor followed him without a word.

"So," said Baal, regarding Saiya with eyes that were not entirely friendly. "Since you seem to be in charge here … what errand did you have that was so important it could not wait?"

"Can't tell you," she said. "It's a secret."

He raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

"Well then. See you in a little while." She spun around and was halfway out the door when his hand fell on her shoulder.

"Where are you going?" he said, leaning over to speak right in her ear. His cheek, rough with a few days' stubble, grazed hers, and his voice was a quiet rumble – not quite a growl, not quite a purr, but somewhere in between. A shiver ran up Saiya's spine at the sound of it. At first she thought that her reaction was out of fear, but when her heartbeat accelerated she knew it was excitement instead.

"Like I said, it's a secret," she said, striving to keep her voice steady.

Baal released her, and she hurried off without looking back, feeling frustrated with herself. She had conquered her awkward impulse to kiss him the other night, had thought it banished for good, so why was she now feeling weak-kneed at the recollection of his hoarse whisper, and the solid weight of his hand on her shoulder?

She went first to Deckard's cottage, and found Leah sweeping the front porch. It seemed that the girl did all the chores of the household, and the cooking as well. Saiya wondered what sort of bond would keep her in servitude to a man she was not even related to. But she appeared happy, whistling as she worked, and occasionally singing snatches of songs in languages both familiar and foreign. As Saiya approached the doorstep, she was humming, _"Say you'll return to me, when the flowers bloom in spring, swear you'll stay true to me, when the winter winds howl, for my love, my love, my only love, I can't live without you–" _

Spotting Saiya, she stopped abruptly and stood at ease, looking down at her from the topmost step, neither welcoming nor hostile.

"You sing very nicely," Saiya said.

"Thank you," Leah replied coolly.

Saiya began again. "I was wondering if … could I maybe … have your help with something?"

"What is it?"

"Well, you see, the other day – the day before yesterday, that is – was Baal's birthday. He turned twenty-four. I thought that we could celebrate. If you're alright with it, that is. You're such a good cook, I thought you could bake a cake, and …" She trailed off, feeling uncharacteristically flustered. Was it too much of an imposition? She hadn't realized until now how much she wanted to make her friend's birthday a special occasion.

"That's a great idea," said Leah. "I'd be happy to help."

"Thank you."

"Of course! What kind of cake should I make?"

"He likes chocolate," Saiya said.

"Right. Chocolate it is. I'll start right now." She set down her broom and went back inside the house, leaving the front door open. Saiya thought that perhaps Leah expected her to follow, but she had other business, so she headed down to the market place. She kept an eye out for Baal, but didn't see him.

For a while she browsed through the stands, unsure of what she was looking for. She considered one of any number of little figurines of wood or stone, cleverly carved in the shape of knights and dragons, birds and beasts, but they seemed too childish. A fine collection of jewelry she dismissed as pretty but impractical, in addition to being more of a gift that a woman would enjoy getting from a man, rather than the other way around. There were lots of books, but she didn't know Baal well enough to know his taste in literature, or even if he could read.

But at last she struck gold, in a stand of scarves and robes: a black shoulder cloak, made of thin wool and cut in such a way that it protected the wearer from the elements but left their arms free for combat. She bought it immediately and wrapped it in brown paper with a simple inscription: _To Baal, from your friend. _

Back at Deckard's house, enticing smells were wafting from the kitchen. Baal sat in the living room conversing with the old man, apparently unaware of the celebration planned in his honor. Saiya dropped the cloak off in their room and went to find Captain Rumford, figuring that he might enjoy an invitation to the festivities. She thought of asking Caesar and Ghor, but decided against it on the assumption that Baal would not be pleased to see them. She then went to meditate until Leah called them for dinner promptly at six.

Rumford, per her instructions, arrived at seven, when they were just finishing up a resplendent meal of grilled salmon, millet, and a green salad augmented by tomatoes, cheese, and olives. The captain had a bottle of wine in hand, a sweet, dark distillation dated from fifty years before. He put it on the table, looking very pleased with himself.

"You're a bit late to get any dinner, Captain," Baal said. "We've eaten it all."

Leah winked at Saiya and said, "Would you mind helping me wash up?"

"I'll do it," Baal offered, standing. Saiya pushed him back in his chair.

"That's women's work," she said. "You just relax."

He gave her a puzzled look but didn't argue the point.

In the kitchen, the two girls put a circle of candles around the edge of the cake, which was a truly magnificent affair. Leah had outdone herself. Raspberry jam was sandwiched between two thick layers of dark moist cake, and fresh raspberries ringed the top, interspersed with dollops of whipped cream and covered with chocolate bits.

Leah lit the candles and carried the cake out into the living room, while Saiya followed behind with a stack of plates. The expression on Baal face when they entered the room was well worth all the effort. He looked astonished, disbelieving, appreciative, and excited all in one. Leah plunked the cake down in front of him and said, "Happy birthday!"

He opened his mouth, closed it again, then stared at Saiya and said, "Did you do this?"

"It was my idea," she admitted. "I _did _tell you that I'd throw you a party if we made it back alive."

"Yeah, but I didn't really expect … you didn't have to, you know."

"I wanted to," she said firmly.

"Make your wish," Leah prodded. "But don't tell, otherwise it won't come true."

Baal thought for a moment, then grinned and blew out all the candles with one long breath.

"Uncle Deckard and I wanted to give you something," Leah continued, "to show our gratitude for everything you've done for us. Here." She put a tiny box on the table. Opening it, Baal found a golden ring made of three thin bands braided together. It looked small but slid smoothly onto Baal's ring finger when he tried it.

"We found it during one of our explorations in a far-off land," Deckard explained. "It has magical properties, all of which not even I am sure of. But I do know that it will never break or bend, and it seems to attract good fortune."

"I'm humbled by your generosity," said Baal.

"I couldn't decide on what to gift you," Rumford said, "but come on down to the armory whenever you like and pick out anything you think would do you service on your travels."

Baal's eyes lit up. "Thank you, Captain, I will certainly take advantage of that!"

Saiya, meanwhile, had gone down to fetch the cloak. She presented it to him, half eager, half nervous. His face was inscrutable as he read the inscription and unwrapped it, and he sat for a moment gazing at the woolen garment without a word.

"I thought you might like a new cloak, since your old one got ripped up while we were fighting that behemoth," Saiya said. "This one's got a special design, and it should keep you quite warm and dry."

Still he said nothing, and Saiya began to feel as if she'd made a mistake. Perhaps his old cloak had some special meaning to him, and she had offended him by offering another. Perhaps he now felt obligated to wear it, and was irritated. Perhaps …

Baal finally spoke. "Thanks," he said, his voice coming out choked. Standing up, he unclipped the tattered rag that still hung from his shoulders and put the new one in place. He executed a few sharp turns, making it swish elegantly behind him.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"Very dashing," said Leah. Saiya nodded in agreement.

"Well," said Rumford. "How about that cake?"

The five of them returned the table, where Leah cut thick slices of the chocolate masterpiece, and Deckard popped the cork on the wine Rumford had brought. The vintage was quite potent, and Saiya felt lightheaded after only a small glass. Baal had two, and seemed to laugh a lot more frequently afterwards.

The conversation turned to past exploits: placed that had been explored and battles that had been fought. Rumford had some entertaining tales to tell, and Baal even opened up a bit about the order of demon hunters who had trained him. His education had been brutal and rigorous, but highly effective.

Deckard was the first to retire, pleading his old age as an excuse, and Rumford departed soon after. Leah hung around for a few minutes more, and then she too went off to bed, leaving Saiya and Baal alone.

"Walk with me," Baal said.

They stepped out into the cool night air and strolled together through the empty streets. Saiya did not instigate a conversation, being content with the cozy silence that they shared.

"Saiya," Baal said eventually, "I wanted to apologize to you for earlier today. I was acting like a jackass and I regret it now."

She had to think back over the events of the whole day before she realized he was talking about his resistance to joining forces with Caesar and Ghor.

"That's all right," she said. "Maybe I shouldn't have pressed the point. I just figured-"

"No, you were right," he said. "Working with them is the smart thing to do. I dislike them – well, the wizard anyway … the woman's fine as far as I can tell – but that doesn't give me the right to treat you poorly. So, I'm sorry."

"I forgive you," said Saiya, perplexed by his newfound humility but enjoying it all the same. "Really, forget about it. But could you try to behave yourself tomorrow?"

"I'll do my best," he said, "although every time I see that little bastard's smug face I want to break his nose."

"I already did that," she replied, and he laughed.

After a few more minutes of casual meandering, Saiya asked, "Did you really like the cloak? I don't want you to feel like you have to wear it just because I gave it to you."

He stopped and turned to look at her, eyes glowing faintly in the darkness. "It's the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me," he said. "If I didn't express my gratitude properly at the time, it's because I was overwhelmed by your thoughtfulness. I'm truly lucky to have you as a friend, Saiya."

"I'm lucky to have you too, Baal," she said, giving him a brief hug. This time, he returned the embrace.

DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII

Saiya was the first one up the next morning, her to immense surprise. Baal's habits must be rubbing off on her, she thought as she washed her face in cold water and packed her belongings. She chose not to eat any breakfast, knowing that they were going to be teleporting later. As ready as she was ever going to be, she then settled down on her cot to meditate while she waited for Baal.

Leah and Deckard escorted them to the town square, where a group had already gathered to see them off. There was no sign of Caesar or his companion, and Baal hissed under his breath, "They'd better not hold us up. Dawn, I said! Not, 'sometime in the morning, whenever'."

"Are you looking for us?" asked a man among the crowd whose face was shaded by a tall, pointed white hat with a wide brim. Saiya did a double-take and recognized Caesar. The wizard was garbed for battle, with a soft leather surcoat girdled with a thin silver band, high-top white leather boots, and armored gloves. His wand was tucked in his belt, and in his left hand he held a small black skull. Ghor stood behind him, although her face was concealed behind a rather disturbing wooden mask adorned with feathers and painted in a terrifying parody of a human face.

Seeing that Baal's face was set in a scowl, Saiya elbowed him none-too-gently in the side. He quickly changed his expression to one intended to be amiable, but it closer resembled the pained grimace of a man about to voluntarily break his own fingers. Saiya realized that she was going to have to take the lead in this instance.

"Good morning," she said pleasantly. "You must forgive us for not seeing you right away."

The wizard waved off her apology. "Are you both ready to go?" he asked. "I've done some calculations, and the closest I can bring us with a warp is a mile or so out from the cathedral doors. The magic-draining properties of the fallen star will prevent me from safely landing us any nearer."

"That's perfectly fine," Saiya said, "and we're ready now, if you are."

"Right," said Caesar. "Ladies, take my hands, and you, sir, may hold onto Saiya."

They all stood in a row, Saiya third in line with Caesar on one side and Baal on the other. She curled her fingers around his and pressed gently, and he squeezed in return.

"Ever warped before?" Caesar asked her.

She nodded.

"Nervous?"

She nodded again.

"Don't worry," he said, "I'm an expert. Just close your eyes and you won't feel a thing. I'll tell you when we've arrived."

Saiya let her eyelids drop down and concentrated on the feel of her hand in Baal's larger one, how her skin tingled as if he was made of static electricity, how warm and callused his palm was. She wondered how that palm would feel brushing against the smoothness of her cheek, or stroking along her back.

"We're here," Caesar said.

Baal released her hand, leaving her grasping at emptiness. A chill breeze ruffle her hair, bringing the heavy smell of rain-soaked soil and blooming heather to her nose. She opened her eyes to behold dark thunderclouds and an open stretch of moorland, with a grand cathedral rising in the distance, on a wooded hill.

"Looks like rain," Ghor observed, eyeing the clouds.

"Yes, it does," agreed Saiya. "Hope we don't get caught out in it."

"If we make haste, we could probably reach the cathedral within an hour," Baal said. "I've been through this way before."

They struck out, walking at first in a tight knot, but then gradually drifting apart. Baal, who was the fastest walker, took the lead and set the pace, while Ghor lingered in the background as was her wont. Caesar fell in beside Saiya, and soon they were talking animatedly. The wizard was a good conversationalist, and Saiya found herself laughing loud and often at his amusing anecdotes of life in the Thaumaturgy Guild. The time passed quickly, and before long they were standing at the wrought iron gates that blocked the road to the cathedral.

The gates were bound together by a thick chain, and firmly locked, but Baal guided them to a place where the bars of the fence had been bent outwards, creating an opening. They slipped through and stood together, sizing up their destination. This close, Saiya could see that the walls were crumbling in places, windows smashed out, grass and tree roots breaking up the foundation. The ceramic tiles of the roof were patchy, like the skin of a dog infected with mange, and there was a colossal hole where the falling star had smashed through. It was a sad and somewhat pitiful sight: a terrible reminder that the march of time was inexorable, and that all things would eventually fall prey to it's devastation. Saiya thought of the people who once came to worship here. Where had they gone? Had they died during the ruinous reign of the Black King? Did their ghosts still wander the old halls where they had poured out their secrets to a listening God, wondering why their pleas had not been heard and answered?

"The walls are thin here," said Ghor. "The Unformed Lands are very close."

"What are the Unformed Lands?" Saiya asked curiously.

"They are the worlds where spirits of the dead dwell in servitude to the Old Ones. We of the umbaru know of the Old Ones and pay them honor with sacrifices."

"Well," said Caesar, looking around, "shall we go in?"

"Actually," said Baal, "I was thinking that we could have lunch first. Saiya and I have not yet eaten."

Saiya blinked. She had expected Baal to try to hurry them along as much as possible, not suggest a social meal. But her stomach was tight with hunger, and their companions seemed amenable to the idea, so they chose a grassy spot off to the side and sat down. Baal opened his pack and brought out carrots, apples, cheese, and sausages. The crowning glory was the remainder of the chocolate cake, neatly wrapped in wax-covered paper to keep it fresh, and a bottle of spiced wine from Deckard's cellar.

"Would anyone like a drink?" he asked, setting out four small cups.

"I must say, this is a pleasant surprise," Caesar said, accepting the wine. "Yesterday when we talked, I did not think you would be so receptive to the notion of teaming up."

"Saiya made me see reason," Baal said. He was still smiling, an enigmatic sort of grin.

"Well, that's good," the wizard said, and raised his glass. "Cheers!" He downed the amber liquid in one gulp, and nodded appreciatively. "This is a fine beverage. My thanks, Baal."

"Have another glass," said the demon hunter, and filled it up. Ghor drank hers as well, but refused a second serving and showed no indication of enjoying it.

Saiya put her lips to the rim of her cup, but as she was about to take a drink, Baal exclaimed, "Look there! An eagle!" and his hand shot out, pointing upwards, and bumped against her wrist. The jolt knocked the cup from her grasp and it fell to the ground. Wine splattered onto Saiya's knee.

"Whoops, sorry about that!" Baal said, picking up the cup. "Are you alright, Saiya?"

"Yes, I'm … fine," she replied, puzzled by his unusual clumsiness. As she was studying his face, trying to determine if he was feeling ill, she heard two thumps from behind her, more or less simultaneous. Turning her head, she saw their two companions sprawled flat out on the grass.

"What on earth?" she cried, jumping up and looking around for an enemy. There was none in sight. Then she put two and two together and glared accusingly at Baal.

"What have you done?" she yelled at him. "You _poisoned _our new friends!"

He chuckled and dumped the remainder of the tainted wine onto a nearby rosebush. "They're fine," he said. "It's just a potent sleeping potion. They'll be out for a few hours, just long enough to give us a head start."

"Baal!"

"What?" he said innocently.

"You promised you would behave!"

"And I did. I was a perfect gentleman."

"I can't believe you," she growled. Bending over, she verified that Caesar and Ghor were still amongst the living. That at least had been true; they were deeply unconscious, but otherwise in perfect health.

"Come on, Saiya," Baal said, half pleading. "We'll be better off without them. They'd have gotten in the way. Now we have the crown, and we didn't have to fight for it."

She glanced helpless from the limp bodies of their very temporary companions to her gleeful friend and back again. "What are we supposed to do, just leave them out here, defenseless? What if a demon comes along and finds them?"

Baal shrugged. "I'm sure they'll be fine. I cleared this area out pretty well when I came through."

Saiya shook her head and refused to answer him. While he packed up the uneaten portion of their lunch, she laid a protective mantra over the spot where the wizard and the umbaru lay, not wanting to leave anything to chance. She made sure to include the words for peaceful sleep.

"Let's go," said Baal, putting his hand on her shoulder. She scowled at him, wanting him to know that he was not off the hook for his disgraceful conduct. But he merely grinned, showing his canines, and said, "Around the side, in the garden. There's a hidden passage that will lead us to a deeper level of the cathedral."

She followed after him as he picked his way through the overgrown grass and wild brambles of the garden. It had once been a beautiful and well-kept place, full of color and life, but now the flowers and bushes were half-dead and the wild plants had intruded, conquering and subverting their tamer cousins.

The door that Baal had mentioned was difficult to spot, seeming to blend right into the brick of the wall, but it opened noiselessly when he pressed a slightly protruding stone. He stepped inside, descending a steep flight of stairs. Taking a long breath of the outside air – the last fresh air she was likely to breathe for quite some time – Saiya plunged after him into the darkness.


	10. 10 - The Templar and the Scarab Beetle

**Amor Vincit Omnia**

**(Love Conquers All)**

**Hey Y'all, thanks for your patience! My schedule should be clearing up in the next two weeks, so I'll most likely be posting with more regularity. Never fear, I'm still full of inspiration and love for this story. Enjoy the latest installment :) And much much thanks to those who reviewed, it means so much! **

Chapter Ten: The Templar and the Scarab Beetle

The stairs were overgrown with moss and lichen, and the walls of the passage oozed moisture. There was a strong odor of mushrooms and mildew. As soon as she stepped over the threshold, Saiya felt stifled and enclosed, and the feeling only grew worse as she pulled the heavy stone door closed behind her. Baal lit a torch, and the light reflected off the wet stone and held the pressing shadows at bay. But ahead there was a well of blackness, and behind more of the same.

The steps took them deep into the earth, straight and narrow. Saiya was just beginning to wonder if they would ever end when they emerged, suddenly, into a wide hall with an arched ceiling. Not two meters ahead was a huge crater in the floor, the sides glowing blue with streaks of silver running through it. Cautiously Saiya walked up to the edge and glanced down. She could not see the bottom. The jagged hole descended until the light source grew too strong and blocked out any visual.

She turned to Baal, who had come noiselessly up alongside her. "Is this-"

"Where the star fell, yes."

"Amazing. To think it goes so deep! Can we even get down there?"

"Oh, yes," he said. "This was where I found Deckard – I came down from the main part of the church, you see, the way we took is a secret passage the old man showed me – but there's a door over there that will lead us deeper." He gestured with the torch, and by its illuminating glow Saiya could see another, shorter set of steps leading down to an enormous metal door, ornately carven. They went down to it, and Baal put his palm flat against a round plate in the center and depressed it. The door split down the center and eased open, apparently without any assistance. Behind it lay a long hallway, lined with statues of gargoyles and supported by pillars. There were sconces on the walls every ten feet or so, and Baal lit them as they passed to mark their progress.

It wasn't long before they encountered the undead. They were thick in the main hall and side rooms. These bodies, the older ones, had mostly decayed to a skeleton state, bones held together by shrunken tendons and tight sinews moving in a grotesque, shambling gate. The empty eye sockets glared accusingly; the bare teeth grinned and snapped. They were surprisingly fast, and most of them had been knights or soldiers in life, and, buried with their weapons, were wielding them still. The first time Saiya noticed them was when a sword swung down out of the darkness inches from her nose. She lashed out on reflex and shattered the undead's ribcage with her kick. After that they were more aware.

The skeletons were dangerous, but not particularly hard to defeat. With no flesh to hold them together, they broke easily, often losing limbs simply under the strain of movement.

The bigger threat came in the form of a large rounded shadow advancing around the corner. Baal, in the lead, put out an arm to hold Saiya back. They watched in apprehension as the demon made its appearance.

It was hideous. Not as large as the patched-together behemoth that had guarded the crypt where the king's crown lay, but no less imposing. A massive bloated midsection wobbled unsteadily on two spindly legs, stomach stretched to the breaking point, so engorged that its arms were forced up into a vertical position. It reminded Saiya of a toy she had seen once, a pig's bladder blown up with air that the children kicked around until one of them stepped on it and it burst.

Baal leveled his crossbow and sent three quick bolts into the bulge of the corpse's gut. It stopped in its tracks, and a gurgling, rattling sound came from its open mouth. Saiya thought it sounded surprised.

Then it began to swell. Its spine bent sharply backwards, and a sickening crack rang out through the air. There was something writhing under the grey skin. It bulged out in places and then retracted, like the surface of a pot of boiling mud. Baal backed away, pushed Saiya behind him.

With a rather flat popping sound the outer layer of skin gave way, and a ball of slimy white worms burst out and slithered rapidly towards them. With a curse, Baal lit up the fuse of one of his bombs and tossed it into the center of the mass. The resulting explosion killed many and set the rest alight. They rolled madly about, emitting an awful shrieking sound.

"What _was _that horrible thing?" Saiya gasped when the noise finally stopped. Burnt worms lay everywhere, stinking foully, and behind them was the mountainous pile of rotting fat from which they had come.

"These little bastards," Baal said, nudging one of the dead worms with his toe, "are the larvae of demon flies. They grow inside corpses and control them from the inside, resulting in the horror you just bore witness to. If permitted to mature, they will go forth to spread more of their vicious brood."

"This is why I hate insects," Saiya said with a shudder.

Baal laughed. "You haven't seen anything yet! In the desert, where I grew up, we have a kind of wasp that is not dangerous in its adult stage, but it carries its pupae on its back, and if one of them lands on your skin, it will burrow its way in and devour you from the inside."

"Stop it!" Saiya shrieked, slapping his arm. "I don't want to hear about it!"

She stomped off down the corridor, but froze as she felt something light tickling the back of her neck. To her complete horror, it began to move up the back of her head, pricking her slightly.

"Hold up," Baal said calmly. "You've got a spider on you."

She drew in a sharp breath and brushed her hand in a panic around the general area, but instead of an arachnid body she felt her fingers connect with something warm and supple. She grabbed it and looked around, only to find herself gripping Baal's wrist. He chuckled, and it soon turned into uncontrollable laughter at her unamused glare.

"It's not funny," she complained, releasing him. "I'm deathly afraid of bugs of all kinds, but especially spiders. When I was eight one of the monks sent me down into the cellar to bring up a bag of potatoes, and I walked into a whole web full of spiders in the dark. They were all over me, in my clothes, my hair. I starting screaming and one of them ran into my mouth. It was the most frightening thing that's ever happened to me. It was weeks before I'd walk anywhere at night, and if I see I spider, I still get chills."

"I guess that would be pretty scary," he said. "Okay, I'm sorry I teased you about it."

"It's all right," Saiya sighed. "Just … please never do that to me again."

"I won't," he promised. "You have to admit I had you fooled, though. You thought it really was a spider."

"I'm going to get you back for that one day," she said. "When I find out what you're scared of, I'm going to taunt you mercilessly."

"No, you won't," he replied softly.

"And why not?"

"Because," he said, "the only thing that frightens me is the thought of losing those I love."

She did not say anything to that. How could she? But she filed the information away for later inspection, feeling as they began to progress again that she had learned something valuable about him. Two things, in fact. He grew up in the desert, and – in spite of appearances – he was not just a loner adrift without a connection in the world. Somewhere, there were people he loved.

As they delved deeper into the heart of the cathedral, seeking out the paths that led downwards, they found more of the swollen, worm-infested undead, sometimes alone but more often in groups. Within an hour, Baal had used up his entire store of bombs. It was only by lucky chance that Saiya discovered that the chandeliers suspended periodically from the ceiling could be made to crash down upon the heads of unsuspecting foes by breaking the chains that held them in place. They worked together to incorporate this bit of knowledge into their strategy: Saiya would stand out in the open and lure enemies to attack, and Baal would stand at a distance and fire a bolt into the chain at the proper time.

There were some skeletons as well that seemed to have dominion over their lesser cohorts, and the power to reshape their bones once broken. It took a while before Baal figured out that some of the demons they were slaying were returning to life, and even longer before the pinpointed the tall skeletons with staves that prowled in the background, avoiding combat, as the cause.

In one of smaller rooms off to the side, which they ducked into trying to hide from a multitude of the swollen undead lumbering by, Saiya found a cluster of strange black mushrooms. The caps sparkled like jet-colored gems in the light of the torch. Neither Saiya nor Baal had ever seen their like before. After a brief debate whether or not it was better to leave them where they were, Baal cut them at the base of the stem with one of his knives and sealed them in an airtight tube for later study.

Once they made it down to the third floor of the cathedral, they began to notice that many of the wall sconces had already been lit. Someone – not a demon; demons hated firelight and would destroy it when they could – had preceded them in this area. Baal instantly suspected Caesar, but Saiya pointed out that unless the wizard knew of a secret shortcut that would take him past the other floors, there was no way he could have gotten ahead of them so fast. This close to the fallen star, he was unable to exercise his warping magic.

So they continued on guard, peering warily around corners and jumping at every sound in the distance. The strain of maintaining a constant awareness was beginning to wear on Saiya. A headache gathered in her temples, and her hands began to shake. Baal didn't say anything directly to her about it, but he did suggest a quick break. They sat on the base of a broken-off stone column and shared some bread soaked in honey. Afterwards, Baal made her take a swig from the flask of brandy. Though his care was all wordless, Saiya nonetheless had the wonderful feeling of being looked after. She continued on rejuvenated, warmed by the brandy and by the attention of her friend.

Soon enough after entering the third floor, their question of who had been lighting the torches was answered, and it was not the answer that they had been hoping for. Coming out of a narrow hallway onto a vantage point overlooking a wide chamber. There was a circular platform in the center, ringed by thousands of candles, and on it seven human forms in hooded black robes stood facing inwards. There was a man in the center of the group, on his knees, his back arched in pain and arms hanging helplessly by his sides. As Baal and Saiya watched in horrified fascination, the robed figures cast beams of powerful magic, all of them focused on the captive man. He writhed in agony, mouth wide in a soundless scream.

"We've got to help him!" Saiya whispered. Baal nodded in agreement.

"We'll have to be careful about it, though. I'll draw their attention from here with my arrows, while you sneak down there in get him away to safety. We'll reconvene on the other side of the room, up those far stairs. Okay?"

She slapped his shoulder and vaulted over the railing, landing crouched on the balls of her feet as quietly as any cat. The robed figures turned in her direction, but they were looking up, where Baal had deliberately knocked over a brass candelabra. Gesturing to each other and speaking in a language Saiya didn't recognize, six of them made for the stairs that would lead them up to Baal's location, leaving one behind to guard the prisoner. Saiya melted into the shadow cast by a bookcase and waited. Once the lone figure's attention wandered, it was the work of a moment for her to dart out from her hiding place and launch a spinning kick to the back of the figure's head, sending it flying forward. She checked to make sure that her enemy was unconscious before tending to the man they had been torturing – upon pulling off the hood, she was shocked to see that the figure was female: a woman in her middle years, her hair hacked off at the roots and dark dots and lines tattooed in a symbolic pattern across her face. Saiya left her lying there in a heap and ran to the congregation's victim, who had yet to stir.

Kneeling beside him, she reached out and gently shook his shoulder. Slowly, he turned to look at her, and his eyes were haunted. He did not speak.

"It's all right," Saiya said. "I'm a friend. Come on, let's get out of there before they come back."

She pulled on his arm and he stood, mechanically, and followed her as she crossed the room with quick strides and bounded up the stairs. Only when they were safely tucked away in a side room, out of sight of the ritual chamber, did she stop and turn to him.

"Are you injured?" she asked.

"No," he said. His voice was hoarse. "Nothing you can heal, at any rate." He was a tough-looking man, clean-shaven and with dark hair cropped close to his skull. His features were heavy in the northern way: strong jaw, thick brow, proud nose. Saiya guessed his age to be around forty.

"My name is Saiya," she said. "My companion and I are here to put an end to the reign of the Skeleton King."

"I am Kormac, of the Knights Templar," he said. "Your quest is mine as well, Sister. But my brother knight Jondar who came with me was seduced by the magic of the Coven and betrayed me. He is deeper in the cathedral as we speak, gathering an army of undead to march forth and wreak ruin upon town of New Tristram. You must help me stop him!"

"I will," Saiya said, "but let's wait here until my companion rejoins us. He lured the robed ones away so that I could get to you."

"Then I am as much in his debt than I am in yours, Sister," said the Templar. "If there is ever ought I can do to repay you, I beg that you will let me know."

"You can help us kill the Skeleton King," said Saiya. "We need all the aid we can get."

At that moment Baal slipped into the room, checked the hallway behind him, and then pulled the door closed. Turning around to face them, he threw a golden pendant on the ground with vindictive fury. It was large enough that Saiya could see its design plainly even from where she stood: a kind of beetle with long pincers and a segmented back reminiscent of a lead pattern.

She looked up at Baal's face. Even as little as she knew of him, she could tell that he was angry. No, beyond angry. His eyes glowed brighter than ever before, and behind the reddened pupils and clenched jaw she could detect a pent-up rage. It was coming off of him in waves, the same bloodlust, the same aura of murderous evil that she had felt right before her first encounter with him at lake.

"What is it, Baal?" she asked, meaning his disturbed state of mind as much as the insect pendant.

"Cultists from the desert," he replied tightly. "Worshipers of Belial, the Lord of Lies. If they are here, then the situation is worse than any of us feared."

"Do you know anything of this?" Saiya asked Kormac.

The Templar shook his head. "I thought they were a local group. But I have seen their leader, Maghda. It was she who seduced my brother and gave the order for me to be tortured and eventually killed."

"I've heard of her," Baal said. "They call her the Butterfly Witch, and she is hated and feared for her cruelty and dedication to her demonic master. This changes our plans somewhat."

"How?" Saiya asked, gratified that at last it was _'our' _plans to him, and no longer merely _'mine'_. "Are we still going to kill the Skeleton King?"

"Oh, we course," he replied with a hungry grin. "But afterwards I will not rest until the head is cut off this snake of Belial's."

"I will fight by your side as long as you will have me," Kormac said, rising a bit unsteadily but holding himself upright.

"Your strength will be welcome, Brother," said Baal. Evidently he had already recognized the Templar for what he was.

Kormac bowed his head. "Follow me, now. I can lead you to Jondar, and past him is the thing you seek."

"Then lead on, my friend."

They followed the broad-shouldered knight deeper into the heart of the church, through a rat's nest of corridors, stairs, and hidden rooms. Down here the stone was much older than in the grand cathedral rooms above, and the style of building was more archaic. She wondered how deep the tunnels went, and what purpose they had originally served.

Eventually they came to a staircase that was blocked off by magical thorns growing right up out of the rough-hewn rock. They were crowded so close together that there was no safe place to step, but the stairs were long enough that there was no hope of jumping down and surviving unharmed. They were stymied, unable to go any farther.

"What should we do now?" Saiya asked.

Kormac struck a large fist against the wall. "If only I had my weapons on me, I could clear a path in no time! But Jondar took my spear and my armor. God knows what filthy beast he has given them to."

"Saiya," said Baal. "Can you use your bell?"

"I'll try," she said, but privately she doubted that she would be able to summon the mystic power. Closing her eyes, she tried to access the deep meditation into which she retreated when she was in mortal danger. It was only from that place of intense calm that she was able to hear the bone-shattering tolling.

It was no good. Opening her eyes, she shook her head. "I'm sorry, Baal, I cannot yet control it enough to utilize it without provocation. I have to feel like I'm in mortal danger."

Before she could blink, his crossbow – fully loaded and primed to fire – was aimed at her forehead. His eyes were cold and very distant.

"Well, here you go," he said. Kormac twitched as though he wanted to jump in and interfere, but he held his ground, watching them warily.

Saiya let out a deep sigh. "Baal, you can threaten me all you want, but I _know _you're not going to hurt me."

He lowered the bow ... and pushed her instead. Saiya barely had time to process the momentary pressure on her chest, or the strange look in his eyes, half-hopeful and half-afraid. All she knew was that she was standing with her back to the spiked staircase and that if she completed her fall, she would be impaled in a hundred different places. Kormac cried out and leaped forward, but his fingertips missed her by an inch. And Baal was not even trying to catch her. She was on her own.

In the split second when her balance had been lost and she was in mid-arc of the fall, she reached for the sound of the bell, knowing that it was her only hope of survival, and found it with quick conviction.

_Clang! _The force spread outwards, crumbling the thorns before it, and Saiya landed safely on her back, tucking her head up as she had been taught so she wouldn't break her neck on the edge of the stair. From her awkward position, she glared up at her supposed friend, the man who had, whatever his intentions, just attempted to murder her. Kormac apparently shared her opinion, for he grabbed Baal and shoved him up against the wall, yelling in his face, "Have you gone mad, boy? You could have _killed _her! Why did you do that?"

"Because I trust her," Baal replied simply.

If Kormac was surprised, Saiya was doubly so. Not quite enough to completely forgive him, but enough that she no longer felt like returning the favor and seeing how well he fared during impromptu flight. She climbed to her feet and walked slowly back up to where the two men were locked together, rubbing her lower back.

"Some warning would have been nice," she grumbled.

"That would have defeated the purpose," he said.

"Which was?"

He gave her a look that plainly said, _Isn't it obvious? _

"You can let him down now, Kormac," Saiya said. "He's only homicidal when its necessary to the mission at hand."

The Templar stepped away, but he didn't relax his guard. Neither did Saiya. Five minutes ago, she would have sworn to anyone asking that Baal would never risk her life in such a careless way. She needed a guarantee that he never would again.

The demon hunter was regarding her a bit nervously. "Saiya-" he began.

She cut him off. "You said that you trust me, but how can I trust _you _after what you just did? What would you have done if I _hadn't _been able to call out the power of the bell? And don't you dare say that you _knew _I'd be able to do it. I want to know what your grand plan would have been if I was stuck on those spikes right now, bleeding out."

"That would never have happened," he said. "Do you really have so little faith in me?" Lifting his crossbow – the one that he hadn't pointed at her – he fired the bolt at a nearby column. When it struck, a length of the incredibly sticky web only made by spider demons flew out and wrapped securely around the pillar. The arrow itself was attached to a rope. Baal hauled sharply back on it to demonstrate the strength of the mechanism.

"See?" he said. "I wasn't going to let you die no matter what, but I couldn't let you know that."

"When did you set _that _up?" Saiya asked stupidly.

"When you were trying to summon the bell the first time," he said. Then, lowering his voice, "Saiya, please … I'm sorry that I used you like that. Please don't hold it against me."

Saiya looked down at the ground, trying to sort out why she was so furious with him. It was not because he had acted without her consent: that was nothing new. It was not because he had endangered her life: that had already been disproved. It was, she decided, because she had just begun to feel that he valued her life, and with one quick move he had toppled that hope. No … that was not quite it. He did value her life, obviously. So why? Why did she feel so disappointed?

She felt a hand under her chin, gently guiding her face upwards. She looked right into Baal's eyes, and they were full of remorse.

"I wouldn't have done it if I knew you'd react like this," he said. "Forgive me, my friend."

Abruptly it came to her. She wanted him to treat her not as a comrade-in-arms, but as a woman to be cherished and protected and kept away from danger. Her eyes widened with the stunning revelation, the piece of her buried so deep that even she had not noticed it growing, there in the hidden grotto of her soul, until it became so large that it was intrinsically a part of her. In that one disturbing, thrilling moment, she understood that Baal had come to mean more to her than she had ever imagined.


	11. 11 - The Dead King's Crown

**Amor Vincit Omnia**

**(Love Conquers All)**

**I hit five grand words with this one! The chapters seem to be getting longer as the story progresses. Hope you all enjoy!**

**WARNING: Some violence in this chapter (mostly in the fight with Leoric) and also a few swears. Nothing major, unless the F-word offends you. Neubia, I hope this fight scene was long enough for you. :D**

Chapter Eleven: The Dead King's Crown

"Of course I forgive you," Saiya said, her features softening at the look of repentance he wore. Baal smiled at her – not his usual cocky smirk or bloodthirsty grin but a shy tender look that melted her a little.

"Good," he said.

Kormac had stepped away and turned his back, respectfully giving them a chance to talk in privacy. Now he returned, his stoic face betraying nothing of what he thought.

"Are we ready to proceed now?" he asked gruffly.

"Yes," replied Saiya, embarrassed that their personal conversation had become a public spectacle.

"Follow me, then," said the Templar. He led them down the now-accessible staircase.

In a grand chamber at the bottom stood a tall, burly man in armor, arms crossed, leaning against a podium, with a leaf-bladed spear propped at his side. He had obviously anticipated their coming. He was a handsome man, brown hair graying at the temples and faint lines carved from his aquiline nose to the corners of his long, thin-lipped mouth.

"Welcome, my Brothers," he said. "Have you come to your senses, Kormac?"

"_Me _come to _my _senses?" growled Kormac. "Look at yourself, Jondar. Open your shirt and look at the mark branded on your skin. Do you remember what it is? It's the mark of the Templars, _Brother_, and your true calling. It is not I who has lost his senses. It is _you_."

Jondar's face became markedly less attractive as it distorted into an ugly sneer. He spat on the ground at his feet.

"That's what I think of the Templars, Kormac. They sent us down here to die, without even a warning about what we were going up against. My Lady Maghda offers power, she offers _immortality_. She was willing to forgive me for my sins and embrace me as her child. Behold the gift she has given me!"

He wrenched off his steel breastplate and tore open the cotton shirt that lay beneath. Kormac gasped, a sharp indrawn breath as if in pain. There was a cross-shaped piece of skin missing from Jondar's muscular chest, the strips precisely cut and torn away, the flesh beneath raw and seeping blood. But worst of all was the hole in his left breast, where his heart should have been. In its place was a pulsating black orb, anchored there by tendrils of darkness hooked into his body.

"_Gott im Himmel!" _hissed Kormac, reverting in a moment of utmost horror to his native tongue. _"Jondar, mein Bruder, was haben sie mit dir gemacht?" _

The orb began to glow green. Baal grabbed Saiya by the back of the neck with one hand and Kormac's shoulder with the other, and dragged them both to the ground a split second before projectiles erupted out of Jondar's chest in all directions, leaving a trail of green smoke behind them.

"Watch out, those are poisonous!" Baal warned before rolling to his feet. "Don't let them hit you."

Kormac sprang towards his former friend and pinioned him against the wall. "Quickly!" he cried. "Shoot the black heart – it is the source of the curse!"

Baal aimed his crossbow, but Jondar twisted away before he could fire. The man's face was nearly unrecognizable now: his pupils shrunk and his irises turned crimson, spittle and froth dripping from his open mouth. He shrieked a wordless oath and unleashed the globules of poison again. One of them missed Kormac's face by inches, and another landed right in front of Saiya's nose. She inhaled a harsh, acrid odor and coughed.

Kormac tackled Jondar again, this time grabbing him around the waist and slamming him into the stone floor. He sat astride the other man, using his superior weight to trap him in place. Baal was ready this time. Standing right above the fallen Templar, he put a stream of bolts into the hole in his chest. Great gouts of a dark fluid that was not blood spurted up, and drained out the man's back to form a steadily growing pool.

Jondar screamed and thrashed madly around, but he was not trying to free himself. When Kormac stopped holding him down he just lay there, limbs in spasm. More of the evil liquid leaked from the sides of his mouth.

"Listen!" Saiya said. "I think he's trying to speak."

They all three bent closer. Words were barely distinguishable among the sounds of anguish. "Brother … I beg … end it. End … it."

Kormac did not seem to have understood. "What … what is he saying …"

"He wants you to kill him," Saiya whispered, "So he won't suffer anymore."

"No!" Kormac cried.

Jondar's hand flashed up and latched onto the Templar's shoulder, fingertips digging cruelly in. Baal made a sudden movement as if to pull him back, but Kormac shook his head. He gripped Jondar's hand in his own and leaned down so the two were nose to nose.

"_Warten, Bruder," _he said. _"Ich werden dich retten." _

"_Nein!" _shrieked Jondar. And then, more quietly, "There is … no hope. End it, Brother, and … _kill _that witch. Avenge me. Please!" The last word was a cry so piercing that it brought tears to Saiya's eyes. Kormac gulped hard.

"Bring me his spear," he said.

"You can use this," Baal offered, holding out his favorite crossbow handle first.

Kormac shook his head. "No. I will send his soul to Heaven with no other weapon but his own. It is the best way to give him honor."

Wordlessly Saiya picked up the leaf-bladed spear from where it had fallen and handed it to the Templar. He took it, held the blade to his comrade's throat, and murmured, _"Ich werde dich im Himmel treffen, Jondar." _

With one quick move, he slashed the razor-sharp edge across the bare skin. The light faded from Jondar's eyes and his head lolled to one side, the wound in his neck grotesquely agape. Kormac covered his eyes with his blood-splattered hands, his broad shoulders shaking as he wept in silence. Baal closed the dead man's eyes and rearranged his head in a more dignified position.

"We cannot linger here long," he said.

"I know," Kormac replied thickly, but he made no move to rise.

"What happened here was no fault of yours," Saiya said, thinking that he was burdened by guilt. "You did well by your friend, and his spirit will rest easy knowing that his death will be avenged."

"I know that as well, but Jondar's body … I cannot just leave it here for the demons to feed on, nor can I bring it with me."

"Well, that's easily solved," said Baal. "There's wood enough upstairs to build a funeral pyre, and I have a torch."

Kormac nodded. "Yes, that will do."

The three of them set to work, and in no time at all a heap of kindling from broken furniture was piled on the ground beside Jondar's corpse. With Kormac grabbing the arms and Baal the feet, they lifted him up. The demon hunter sprinkled some of his incendiary powder over the body, and set light to the dry wood. Fire roared to life, consuming Jondar's flesh in a blaze of hungry flame. Kormac muttered a brief prayer in his native language. Then, wiping the blood from the blade of Jondar's spear, he said, "Let's away, friends. We have a Skeleton King to slay!"

At the other side of the room, concealed behind a swiveling bookcase, was steep staircase. At the bottom was a sharp turn, and past that yet another set of steps. They followed these downwards for several minutes before coming out into a cramped dark place far removed from the grandiose halls of the upper cathedral. This deep underground there was a harsh chill to the air, and their footfalls stirred ancient dust that lay inches thick on the floor.

"How long do you think we've been down here?" Saiya asked Baal.

"Oh, hours, I'm sure," he answered.

"I wonder if Caesar and Ghor have woken up yet."

"Who cares?" he said dismissively.

She sighed. "I hope its not much further until we reach King Leoric's resting place. I'm exhausted."

"We can take another break, if you'd like," he said, voice filled with concern.

Saiya shook her head. "That's all right, I can keep going."

After that, they walked on in silence. Kormac was absorbed in his own morose thoughts, and Saiya and Baal had that type of comfortable companionship where there was no need for words. They met with no enemies; in fact, there was no sign that any living thing had passed this way for a hundred years. Spider webs laced the jagged stone walls and filled the crooked doorways, but the spiders themselves were long dead, nothing more than dried-up corpses. They had all starved to death.

After a while, they found themselves once more on the lip of the hole smashed by the star. The bottom, though still obscured in blue mist, seemed closer now. Looking up, they could see the top of the church far above. Saiya estimated that they had descended several hundred feet, at least, since they entered the cathedral.

"Could we climb down the sides?" Kormac asked, speaking for the first time in over an hour. "There are handholds enough."

Baal put out a hand to touch the rock and drew it back before he had even made contact. "It burns," he said. "I don't think that's an option."

"Pity," said the Templar. "That means we'll have to take the long way around, through the Royal Crypts. I dread to imagine what demons will await us there."

"Bring them on," said Baal confidently. "Saiya and I can handle it."

Saiya smiled at him, warmed by his faith in her, and he grinned back.

The entrance to the Royal Crypts was guarded by two great statues of the olden kings, one on either side of the arched doorway. Bearded and stern, they glared down at the frail humans who dared to trespass in the domain of the dead.

Through the arch the crypts were black as pitch, without even the light given off by the fallen star's crater. The smell of rot was more pervasive: a sick odor that clung to the back of the throat when inhaled. The glow of Baal's torch showed open coffins and the white gleam of bones inside.

Walking between the two men, Saiya tripped over some loose boards leaning up against the wall. There was a terrible cracking sound, and a large section of the wall crumbled down almost on top of her. She jumped back, pressing up against the far wall, choking as clouds of dust filled her nose and mouth and stung her eyes. The torch was extinguished by a rush of air.

"Are you all right, Saiya?" Baal asked, feeling for her in the darkness. His outstretched fingers made contact with her face, nearly jabbing her in the eye. She reached up to grab his hand and hung on to it.

"I'm fine," she said. "Kormac?"

"All in one piece, Sister," the Templar replied from the blackness to her left. Moments later she felt his arm brush her shoulders. She took hold of him as well, so that they were all three linked together.

"I guess the infrastructure isn't very stable down here," she said.

You can say that again," Baal grumbled. Saiya could hear him rustling around in his pockets, presumably for his flint and tinder.

"Did you two hear that?" Kormac asked suddenly.

"What?" said Saiya.

"A creaking sound. Off in that direction."

They all stood very still and listened. Saiya could hear nothing other than her own breathing, which seemed very loud in the tightly enclosed space.

"Baal," she said, "can you smell anything?"

"This whole place stinks of demons," he replied. "My nose is useless at the moment."

"There it is again," Kormac said. "It sounds like a rocking chair."

"Now I hear it," exclaimed Saiya. "Baal?"

"Just a minute," he said tersely. "I'm trying to make some light."

Sparks showered as he struck the flint and tinder sharply together. One of them caught in the burnt-out torch and a weak flame flared into being. Baal thrust it towards the source of the noise.

Skeletons. Dozens of them, perhaps more, crowding the narrow hall for as far as they could see. They had been roused from their shallow sleep by the racket, and now they were inching forward, dragging their weapons behind them.

"What do we do?" Saiya whispered. "There are too many of them!"

"What about your magic bell, Sister?" asked Kormac. "That would clear them out."

She shook her head. "More likely, it would just bring this whole place down on our heads."

"Quick, through here!" Baal cried, tugging her over the rubble to the hole that had been created in the wall. They clambered up and dropped down on the other side, on a long balcony overlooking a fall of uncertain height into a pit of shadow that the feeble light of the torch could not pierce.

"There has to be a way out of here," Baal said, looking wildly around. Already the skeleton army was already beginning to cluster around the hole in the corridor above. A particularly intrepid one pushed itself through headfirst and fell down, snapping its skull off from it neck on impact. The remains floundered helplessly, waving its arms and legs while the jaws on the detached skull chattered angrily.

"Let's search the walls," Saiya suggested. "There may be a hidden passage."

Baal stuck the torch in a central bracket on the balcony railing. By its light they could just barely see the entirely of the area they were trapped in. They split up, each taking one wall, searching hurriedly along its surface while the skeletons slithered one by one through the hole. There was a growing pile of them on the floor now, and they served to cushion the fall for the next ones, so that more and more of them were arriving intact. Kormac, who had already exhausted the options for his wall, quickly put an end to them with powerful cuts and thrusts of the leaf-bladed spear.

In the end, however, when they were on the verge of despair, it was the Templar who discovered their way of escape. In avoiding a blow from a skeleton's mace, he stepped backwards onto a pressure plate on the floor. A section of stone from the wall, so cleverly hidden that it was invisible to the naked eye, slid downwards with a scraping sound. The adventurers rushed through it into the cramped corridor beyond, Baal stopping only to retrieve his torch. Luckily, a second plate beyond the door raised it up again, trapping the skeletons on the other side.

The hallway ended at a massive door. It took all three of them pushing on one side to force it open barely enough to slip through. On the other side, a bridge spanned the terrible gulf, leading to a wide chamber lit with ghost lights. Against the far wall was an ornate throne of gold and red velvet padding, upon which sat the bones of a great man, armored in the splendor of a king.

"Leoric," Baal said. "We have found him at last: his frail physical body and not the immortal demon that commands his dread armies. By reuniting him with his crown we shall bind the both together, and they may be destroyed once and for all."

As they crossed the bridge, shadowy ethereal forms rose up out of the stone in front of them – six in all. They did not acknowledge the presence of living intruders in the sanctum of the dead, or even seem to be aware of them. Five of the specters had the sixth surrounded, and they were speaking to him with hollow voices, like the return of an echo.

"King Leoric, by your sins you have lost your right to rule over this land. We, who were once your most loyal knights, have come to take it from you."

"Keep your distance from him!" cried the tallest of the spirits. "This burden is mine to bear."

The other four stepped away and sheathed their drawn weapons.

"Lachdanan," said the soul form of the king. "You have been like a son to me, and I have loved you like a son. Do not now turn your back. With you by my side, I can reign over the entire world."

Lachdanan drew in a shuddering breath and said, "May death bring you peace from your madness, my beloved King."

Rushing forward, he plunged his sword into the breast of the monarch's spirit. Leoric cried out in pain and fell to his knees.

"Traitor!" he howled. "Even in death my people will obey their king! But you, Lachdanan, youI consign to _hell_ for your treachery. There shall be no redemption for you!"

The spectral scene faded, leaving the room empty save for the imposing skeleton on the throne.

"Lachdanan," Saiya mused. "I recognize that name. He was the knight from Deckard's tale, the one who put an end to Leoric's cruelty even though he loved his king more than any other. Was that what we saw, just now?"

"I believe so," Baal said.

"But how? That was many years ago. Surely their spirits haven't been down here all that time, replaying the moment when Leoric died."

"I think that was just a memory of the moment," Baal said, "preserved because of the tremendous power of emotion that took place. It was not real, we could have done nothing to stop it, but it _reflected _something that was real, if that makes any sense."

"It does," Saiya said. She couldn't help but wonder if anything she had done in her life would have left such an imprint. It occurred to her then that she had never felt such an emotion, not on par with that of Lachdanan, who had been forced to murder a man who he had loved more than life. For a brief moment her imagination put her in Lachdanan's place, only rather that Leoric it was _Baal _under that armor, screaming a curse at her as she pierced his heart with a blade. Could she have done it, she wondered, could she have struck that fatal blow? It was too painful to contemplate.

"Well, here we are," said Kormac. "I assume you have some plan, then?"

"Of course!" said Baal. Opening his rucksack, he pulled out an oddly-shaped bundle wrapped in white cloth and bound with a silver chain. He unwrapped it to reveal Leoric's crown. Kormac, who had been leaning forward with curiosity, recoiled.

"That is an artifact of powerful evil!" he exclaimed. "How in Heaven did you get your hands on this?"

Baal and Saiya exchanged a glance of wry remembrance. Baal said, "It wasn't easy."

"It was entombed in the northern catacombs," Saiya elaborated. "Baal and I went up there a few days ago in search of it." She chose not to mention that they were not the ones who had found it, still feeling vaguely guilty over the way their agreement with Caesar and Ghor had been broken. As if she could have stopped Baal once he'd made up his mind! She almost laughed aloud.

"And now," said Baal, "to return the crown to its rightful owner." With slow but purposeful steps he crossed the room, Saiya and Kormac flanking him with their weapons drawn. This close, the dead king's empty eye sockets seemed to stare right through them. The thin strands of a short white beard clung to his fleshless cheeks and jaw.

"Are you ready?" Baal asked, looking around at his companions. They nodded in unison.

"All right, then. Here goes."

Baal reached up and set the crown on Leoric's bald skull with a gentle clink. The response was instantaneous. A dark energy gathered around the throne, and blue flame that gave off no light or heat danced around the skeleton's head. Baal leaped back.

Then, with a rattle of long-unused bones, the Black King stood. His height in life must have been extraordinary; in death he seemed even taller. He lifted a great mace that rested on the arm of his throne and slung it over one shoulder. The end of it was a spiked star of metal twice the size of Saiya's head. As he stepped down from his resting place, the floor shook.

The skeletal jaws cracked open, and a voice emerged: dry as the desert it was, and deep. It cracked and buckled under the strain of speaking, it hissed and screeched. It sounded like rust and gravel and breaking ice.

"What fool," it said, "dares to bring the warmth of life into my tomb?"

"We have come, Shade of Leoric, the once-great king!" Baal cried. "We have come to put an end to your evil for all time!"

The head snapped towards him, and blue fire burned in the holes where eyes had been. The Skeleton King laughed, a loathsome sound. "You may try!" he said, and flew at them.

Baal jumped back just in time to avoid the mace as it crashed down, smashing into the stones where his feet had been moments ago. He sent a stream of bolts into Leoric's chest, but they might have been stinging flies for all the harm they did. His bones were not so easily broken as those of his minions.

Kormac attacked from behind and jammed his spear tip into the joint of the king's shoulder. Leoric roared and swung his mace around. The head of it caught the Templar high in the chest and knocked him flat. He lay a moment, gasping for breath and clutching at the bleeding wound. Leoric turned to him and raised his mace for a killing blow.

"No!" Saiya screamed. She jumped in a high kick and her foot struck the haft of the mace, changing the direction of the arc just enough that it missed Kormac. Leoric's knee was extended out; she used it as a platform to jump again, striking the side of his head with her shin. The demon wobbled, dazed for a moment, and Saiya dropped back to earth, raining blows on his ribcage with her brass knuckles while Baal continued to fire at the head from the other side. She could see chips of bone flying from the contact points and for a moment she thought that victory was in sight.

Baal ran out of arrows, paused to reload, and in the slight lull Leoric recovered himself and reached out with his free hand faster than Saiya could dodge. He lifted her by the throat and threw her. She slammed into a railing at the edge of the throne room and her momentum carried her over it, right into the chasm below.

A shout rang in her ears: "Saiya!" It was Baal's voice. In a last desperate attempt, she grabbed for the wall as she was falling and somehow managed to catch hold of a little edge of stone. She clung there by the fingertips of one hand, her brass knuckles digging painfully into her palm and her side on fire where it had struck the railing.

"Saiya!" Baal yelled again. His voice was high with fear. "Saiya, answer me!"

"I'm here," she croaked, but her voice barely reached her own ears. She tried again. "Here! Baal, I'm here!"

"Can you get up?" he called.

"No."

A curse. "Hang on, I'm coming! Kormac, keep him away from us!"

Saiya's fingers slipped a little bit. She scrabbled at the wall, trying to push herself back up with her toes. She could hear running feet above and looked up to see Baal leaning perilously out over the edge.

"Hang on!" he cried again. "I have to put in the other bolt."

He knelt down, removing the piercing arrows from his crossbow and searching around for the sticky one with the rope attached. It was much heavier than the others, and took a few seconds to properly load. Right as he was finished, Kormac's voice split the air. "Baal, watch out!"

At the edge of the abyss the skeleton king appeared. Baal tucked into a roll from kneeling and managed to escape certain death, but he was unable to drop the lifeline to Saiya with Leoric attacking him. He dodged two more strikes, shouting, "Damn you, Kormac, you were supposed to keep him occupied!"

"I'm sorry!" the Templar yelled. "He has warping magic, what could I do? And then he summoned up some of his skeletons. I'm trying to keep _them _away!"

"Baal, I'm slipping!" Saiya shrieked. She jammed her fingernails into a minute crack in the stone, biting her lip against the pain. She could not hold on for much longer.

"Oh fuck … just hang on a bit longer, Saiya! Kormac, I don't care about the other skeletons, I needyou here _now_!"

Saiya's strength finally failed. Two of her nails were torn out of their beds as she broke free and plunged downwards with a scream of terror.

And then she halted in midair and swung gently back and forth, held securely in place by a sticky net suspended by a rope attached to the crossbow in Baal's hand. Ordinarily, she would have been horrified to know that she was covered in the web of a spider – especially a large, demonic spider – but for the moment all that she could think was, _saved, saved, saved. _

But it was not over yet. Baal had acted as he had to, to prevent her from falling to her death, but he was far from safe himself, for now he had the burden of her weight to support while still trying to avoid being broken into pieces by a blow from the great mace. He managed to sidestep once, but the effort of holding Saiya up was too much, and his reaction was slow. The next attack would surely hit him dead on, and that would be the end of him.

Saiya could not let that happen. Tugging lightly on the rope to get his attention, she yelled, "Baal, let me go! You can't do it!"

He hopped awkwardly sideways again, and the spikes on the end of the mace tore furrows in the cloth of his sleeve. "Are you mad?" he spat.

"You promised me!" she wailed up at him. "You promised that you wouldn't try to save my life if it would cost you your own!"

"Sorry." Just the one word, and yet it meant so much.

The mace was coming down again, and this time he would not be able to avoid it. Saiya closed her eyes. She could not bear to see it. If only she had not been so weak!

With a roar of fury, Kormac leaped in between Baal and the Skeleton King. He took the brunt of the blow with the haft of his spear and there was a splintering sound, but the wood, reinforced with holy silver, held together. Kormac retreated, but the demon was focused on him now and followed after, leaving Baal free to pull Saiya up out of the pit.

As soon as he could, he reached down and slipped his arm under her own and around her back, lifting her carefully up. He held onto her for a minute, steadying her while she stood on shaky legs.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I think so."

"Good. Let's finish this."

"But nothing seems to touch him," Saiya said.

Baal gave her a significant look, and she knew then what his meaning was. "Two in one day? I'm not sure I have the capability."

He gripped her shoulders hard and bent his head to stare into her eyes. "I believe in you," he said.

Saiya nodded grimly. Settling automatically into her calm of mind, she strode out into the open. Kormac had fallen to his knees from a particularly brutal blow. It was now or never.

"Leoric!" she yelled. He swiveled around to look at her.

"You threw me down into the gulf, but you didn't kill me! You _can't _kill me, Skeleton King, because I am a holy warrior and you are nothing more than old bones held together by hatred."

The blue fire in his eyes burned more brightly at her words, and he started towards her.

"Let go of your hatred, Leoric!" Saiya screamed. "Let it go and sleep as you should have years ago! Be at peace!"

He was almost upon her. She reached for the bell. It didn't come.

Mouth suddenly dry, Saiya lost control of her meditation. Baal was shouting at her from across the room, she could see his mouth moving, but no sound came from his lips. In fact, she could hear nothing: not the thunder of the Skeleton King's boots on the floor, not the cries of her companions, not even the sound of her own breath. The world was wrapped in silence.

Saiya sank to her knees. "Oh father," she whispered. "Help me!"

And then she felt it – warm hands on her cheeks, the head monk's breath in her ear.

"Sleep, my child, you are safe now."

_Clang, clang, CLANG _tolled the bell, the waves of sound rolling outwards, overlapping like ripples in a still lake. They washed over Leoric and shattered him apart, bones scattering across the floor. His mace fell from his hand and lodged point first in the stone. The blue fire engulfed his skull and crown, and within seconds it had melted into a twisted lump of gold and bone.

The demon was dead.

And Saiya lay stretched out on her back, unmoving.

**A/N: For those of you who are interested, a translation of Kormac's words, in order:**

**"God in Heaven! Jondar, my Brother, what have they done to you?"**

**"Wait, brother. I will save you."**

**"I will meet you in Heaven, Jondar."**


	12. 12 - A Peaceful Interlude

**Amor Vincit Omnia**

**(Love Conquers All)**

**No action here, not 'til the very end anyways. Just some fluff blowing in the wind ... I figured we could all use a little break before the trouble meter cranks up again. Enjoy! As always, my eternal thanks to those who review. Neubia, I'm glad that the last chapter appealed to you :) Thanks for weighing in on that!**

Chapter Twelve: A Peaceful Interlude

_She wandered through the maze-like world of her dreams for eons, lost and alone. _

"_Who am I?" _

_People passed her by, and she thought that she recognized them, but she could not be sure. An old man with a bald head and a long beard, wrinkles of wisdom around his so-kind eyes. A young man with shadowed eyes that seemed to glow faintly in the darkness. A woman whose face was always turned away, a woman who wept quietly into her hands, and her tears were made of light. _

_Her steps carried her further into the maze, leaving the people behind, and now the hedge-walls began to grow and thicken, and the branches sprouted thorns that scratched at her hands as she pushed through them. Two of her fingernails caught on the spines and were torn away. A tree limb snapping down caught her across the back and it felt like the lash of a whip. _

_At last she came out into an open area filled with corpses and surrounded by a lake of blood. It was boiling, and the heat was nearly unbearable. In the center of the field sat a tall man upon a throne, with a pointed crown upon his head. As she watched, his flesh began to wither and shrink, melting away until only his skeleton remained. The skeleton rose up and ran towards her, but when it grew close, it burst apart, showering her with bones. _

_In the distance, a bell rang three times. _

Saiya woke with a gasp. Almost at once, a small hand entered her blurry field of vision and placed a cool cloth on her forehead. It felt wonderful against her burning skin.

"Hush," said a girl's voice. "Just lie still."

With an effort, Saiya turned her head in the direction of the voice. Leah was sitting there, an open book on her knee and a bowl of ice water by her feet. She removed the cloth from Saiya's forehead, dipped it into the bowl, wrung it out, and laid it across her face again.

"Uh?" Saiya croaked. What she had intended to say was, _"Where are Baal and Kormac? Are they all right?" _but the words refused to come to her parched throat.

"Do you want some water?" Leah asked. She slipped one hand under Saiya's head and supported it while with the other she brought a glass to Saiya's mouth and tipped it up. A few blessed drops of water passed between the young monk's cracked lips and over her tongue. She tried to drink a bit more, but in her haste only managed to spill some down her chin. Leah wiped it away.

"Slowly," she admonished.

"Uh ah whuh?" Saiya asked, meaning, _"Why am I so weak?" _

"Do you remember your name?" Leah asked. Her words were deliberately loud and slow, as if she was speaking to a child or a stupid person.

"Ah!" said Saiya impatiently. _"Of course I do, I just can't speak right now!" _

Leah's lips pursed and her eyebrows contracted. She turned her head and called, "Brother Malachi!"

The priest appeared. "What is it, Leah?"

"Saiya's awake," Leah said, "but she doesn't seem to remember anything, and she's having trouble speaking."

Brother Malachi knelt down at Saiya's bedside and took her pulse, then felt her forehead.

"Tell me your name, child," he commanded.

Saiya scowled at this foolishness. What she really needed was more water; her tongue and throat were so dry that the only sound she could make was an open-mouthed grunt. But she determined to try nonetheless.

"Sss," she said, but could get no further than the hiss, which trailed off into a fit of coughing. Mercifully, Brother Malachi reached for the water glass and allowed her to take a few sips of much-needed refreshment.

Saiya's wits were returning to her now, slowly but surely. After a few aborted beginnings, and with a few stumbles, she got out the words, "What day is it?"

"Two nights have passed since you and Baal returned from the cathedral," Brother Malachi said. Saiya was aghast. How could she have slept so long? She hadn't been hospitalized like this since she fractured her wrist sparring with Tai Ki-War back when she lived at the temple.

"Is Baal all right?" she asked. "And what about Kormac? Did he come back with us as well?"

"Put your mind at ease, child," said Brother Malachi with cultivated patience. "Baal was unharmed. Your friend the Templar suffered some serious wounds, but under my care he is sure to recover."

"May I see him?" Saiya asked.

"I do not think it is advisable that you rise quite yet, you're still in recov-"

"I'd like to see him," she repeated, voice firm. Brother Malachi threw up his hands and pointed to a curtain on the other side of the room.

"In there."

"Thank you," Saiya said. She sat up the rest of the way, shocked at how her hands trembled on the coverlet. The tips of her first and second fingers, she noticed, were bandaged. Her back felt like it had been skinned and beaten with a meat tenderizer. But she pushed herself through the pain, knowing that if she gave in and lay back down she would not have the courage to get up again for a while.

Realizing that she was clad in only her underclothes, she looked around and spotted her robe, washed and neatly folded, on a nearby table. Her brass knuckles had been placed on top of the pile. Hobbling over, she picked up her robe and slipped it on. Her movements were absurdly stiff and slow, and an action that should have taken mere moments dragged on for several minutes while she struggled with the fasteners down the side and particularly at the back of her neck.

Presentable again, she made her way to the curtain Brother Malachi had indicated and pulled it back. Kormac looked up in surprise from his reclined position, but his startled expression soon changed to a wide grin of welcome. He was looking the worse for wear: his chest was swathed in linen bandages and several large bruises discolored his face and shoulders.

"Sister Saiya!" he exclaimed. "What a pleasure to see you up and about!"

"How are you, Kormac?" she asked, worried by the spectrum of his injuries.

"Oh, I'll be in fighting shape again in no time," he replied cheerfully. "I look worse than I feel, I imagine. But you, Sister, have been a cause of concern for us all."

"What happened after I fainted?"

"Well – please sit down, Saiya, you look exhausted."

With a nod of gratitude, she perched on the edge of his bed, careful to avoid the lumps in the blanket that were his feet. Kormac continued, "That magic bell of yours put an end to the Skeleton King, Sister. Blasted him right into Hell. He won't be coming back again, I guarantee that. But you keeled over just as you finished casting it, and at first Baal and I feared the worst. We knew we had to get you to a healer, and I was in no fine condition myself at the time, but going back was not an option so we pressed on ahead. There was a pathway, you see, that led down even further, to the very bottom of the pit where the star fell. And what we found there … you'll never believe it."

"What?" Saiya said.

"A _man_, Sister … twas a _man _that fell from the sky. And such a man as neither I nor any other has been before on this earth. A giant, he is, and dark of skin, with a face like a saint or a holy man. But his mind was damaged from the fall, and he can remember nothing about himself: not his name, nor his purpose here. All he can say is that he bears an important message."

"You mean he's alive?" Saiya said, amazed. "But how?"

"No one knows," replied Kormac. "Not even he."

"What happened after you found him?"

"Well, he seemed out of his wits and scarce able to think on his own. We told him to come with us and he trusted us without question. I helped him along while Baal carried you. Luckily for us, just past the crater there was a hidden chamber where a portal had been constructed. It activated as we approached, and we were able to use it to return here to New Tristram."

"That's a remarkable story, Kormac," Saiya said. Impulsively she reached out an laid her hand over the peak of his blanket-covered knee. "Thank you for all your help," she said.

"I was just returning the favor, Sister. I owe my life to you and Baal. If not for your timely interference, the cultists would have murdered me, or perhaps worse, they would have subverted me as they did Jondar."

Saiya shuddered at the memory of the other Templar writhing in agony as he died, his heart replaced with a beating orb of dark magic, and the symbol of his faith forcibly stripped from his body.

"You don't owe us anything, Kormac," she said. "No one deserves such a fate. I'm just sorry that we couldn't save Jondar as well."

Kormac sighed. "No, the failure was mine. He was my subordinate. I was supposed to protect him against such a demise."

"It wasn't your fault," she insisted.

"Perhaps not, but I will bear the guilt of his death until the end of my days nonetheless."

There was a moment of somewhat somber silence. Then Saiya said, "What will you do now that Leoric has been destroyed? Your appointed task here is done. Will you return to your homeland in the north?"

Kormac shook his head. "Though I have fulfilled my initial duty, my superiors in the Templar Order were unaware of the true situation here. As Baal said, the Skeleton King was just the surface of the issue. There is a darker movement behind him, and I believe that the cultists and their leader Maghda will lead us there. If you will have me, I will once again join my strength with yours to defeat the evil that threatens this realm."

"Well, I can't speak for Baal, but he seemed to like you," Saiya said with a smile. "And I for one would be proud with fight alongside you again, Kormac. You are a true knight." This heartfelt speech was tragically interrupted by a conspicuously loud grumble from Saiya's stomach. She clapped a hand over her midsection, flushing red with embarrassment.

Kormac chuckled. "Alright, Sister. Leave this old man to rest in peace and go find yourself some food. Clearly you are in need of it!"

"I'll come and see you later," she promised, and fled before her traitorous gut could lodge any more complaints, pulling the curtain closed behind her.

After careful deliberation, Saiya decided that the marketplace was the best place to begin her search for food. Once there, however, she found that she was in that dreadful in-between phase of hunger, where she was beginning to feel nauseous from lack of food, but rather than spike her appetite, food itself was repulsive to her. What she really needed, she knew, was a hearty meal with lots of meat and rice, or something similar. But the mere thought of ingesting such a dish at the moment made her want to vomit. Eventually she selected the lightest fare she could find – a small, soft pastry still warm from the oven, with a mildly sweet filling of almond paste. Nibbling on this, she wandered aimlessly towards the town square.

Aidel and Captain Rumford were there, talking with another man that Saiya didn't recognize. Upon seeing her, Rumford broke off his conversation and came jogging over.

"Saiya!" he called. "You're up at last! We were beginning to worry about you."

"I'm fine, Captain," she assured him, touched by his concern. "How goes the war against the demons?"

"Very well." He grinned, his long, weathered face lighting up. For a brief moment Saiya could see the shadow of the dashing young man he had been before difficult times had beaten youthful vigor and enthusiasm into the hard edges and rough surfaces of a seasoned warrior.

"We've seen nary a one of the bastards since you and Baal defeated that damned shade Leoric," Rumford continued, "though from what I hear, twas you stuck the final blow. If we were in your debt before, my Lady, we owe you doubly now."

"I'll have none of that, Captain," she said sternly. "What I did, I did because it was the right thing to do. I desire neither glory nor tribute. Besides, if it were not for my companions, especially Baal, I would never have survived long enough to see Leoric slain, so they deserve as much as the gratitude as I do."

Speaking her friend's name reminded her that she had not yet seen him since she awoke. Nor had anyone mentioned his whereabouts. She couldn't help but feel a prick of disappointment that he was not at her bedside, or at least nearby, when she returned to consciousness. Then her petty resentment was drowned out by a sinking suspicion that he may have vanished again.

"Have you seen Baal around anywhere?" she asked Rumford. "He hasn't left town again, has he?"

"Not to my knowledge," replied the Captain.

"Are you looking for Baal?" Aidel inquired. He had finished talking with the other man and had strolled over to join them.

"Yes," Saiya said. "Do you know where he is?"

"I saw him not ten minutes ago. He went out the front gate, walking down towards the dock."

Saiya let out a sigh of relief, but his next words froze her mid-breath. "There was someone with him. Leah, I think."

Within the space of a few seconds, Saiya kaleidoscoped through a dizzying range of emotions, starting at irritation and jealousy, then embarrassment at having felt that way, then a sudden sharp fear that perhaps there _was _some attraction between the two, and the pain that came with that fear, a crushing grief that left her heart stranded between beats. Finally, belatedly, came a self-deprecating amusement at her severe reaction. It was most likely something quite innocent that led the pair outside the gates to speak. And even if it wasn't … she, Saiya, had no claim over Baal. She had barely even discovered her feelings for him, and was herself unsure how deep they truly ran: if it really was love, or just some childish infatuation.

"Are you all right, Saiya?" Rumford asked, putting a strong hand on her shoulder. His dark eyebrows were drawn down with alarm.

"Huh?" She shook herself, feeling dazed.

"Perhaps you should lie down for a while," Rumford suggested. "I'll walk you back to the infirmary if you would like."

On the spur of the moment, Saiya decided that a nice long meditation would be just the thing she needed to clear her mind of these troubling run-away emotions. And since being out in nature was always the most conducive to reaching the deep calm she craved so badly, she figured that she'd find a place outside of town. It was not, she told herself, absolutely _not _an attempt to find Baal or eavesdrop on his conversation with Leah.

She bade farewell to a puzzled Captain Rumford and marched out through the front gates, turning right along the path that led down to the pier. That area seemed to be a favorite of Baal's, for it was there that she had found him after his troubled dream several nights ago. She recalled how pleasant it had been just sitting there with him, linked by their common humanity, in placid silence while they watched the water flow by.

It was not long before she caught sight of Baal's lean dark form between the trees. He was standing still in the middle of the path, all his attention focused on the girl in front of him. His face was turned away so that Saiya could not gauge his expression, but his voice was low and comforting. His words filtered though her ears like the morning sunshine through the abundant foliage.

"… always glad … help you … if you need … tell me, won't you?"

"Of course!" was her reply. Her voice, being high and clear, rang like a bell through the woodland. "You know, Baal, you have convinced even the most faithless among us of the existence of the gods."

Saiya could see his shoulders trembling with quiet laughter. "How's that?"

"Simple enough," Leah said. "We prayed for salvation, and here you are."

"… want to … care … talking like that … might start to get ideas."

Saiya spun about and ran back the way she had come before she could overhear any more. In her agitation, she paid no mind to branches she snapped or the flowers she trampled underfoot. Eventually she stumbled out on the bank of the river, where the trees grew right to the water's edge, their gnarled roots reaching down to grasp at the liquid that gave them life. She sat down, breathing hard, and let her feet dangle, toes skimming the surface like water striders.

To her astonishment, her cheeks were flushed hot and red, and her vision was hazy with tears. She bent over and scooped up a handful of the cool river water, dashing it over her burning face. What was _wrong _with her, that she would react this strongly to the sight of Baal conversing with another girl? It wasn't she had walked in on him and Leah kissing passionately.

_And who could blame him if he had been? _a small voice within her whispered. _Leah is the sort of woman any man would want. And what are you, Saiya? Lanky, awkward, boyish … what good are you? You wouldn't know what to do with a man if he _did _kiss you. _

"That doesn't mean I don't want him to try," Saiya muttered aloud, cursing both the cruelty of that inner critic and that fact that it spoke nothing but the truth.

_If you care for Baal at all, _the voice continued, cold and blunt and without mercy, _you'll get yourself out of his way and stop acting like a jealous fool!_

Saiya closed her eyes, wondering just what it was about Baal that brought all the insecurities she hadn't known she possessed to the forefront of her psyche. Before she met the demon hunter, she had been perfectly content to be herself. Now nothing about her was good enough. It was maddening.

But the current massaged the soles of her feet, and the sunlight warmed her bare legs, and arms and a gentle breeze ruffled her hair in a friendly way. With the beauty and peace of nature all around her it was impossible to for negative feelings to dominate her for long. She began to slip into meditation, letting her sadness and disappointment drain out through her toes and wash away in the river until only a neutral calm remained.

_I am nothing. I am nothing and I am everything. _

A leaf from an overhanging tree branch tickled the top of her head. She ignored it.

_I am one with the world around me. I have no fear. I have no pain. I have no anger. _

The leaf, moved by the wind, dropped lower. It trailed down the side of her cheek and back up again. She twitched, but did not move to brush it away. To stir now would break her meditation. Instead she sank deeper.

_I have no name. I have no past, and no future. I have only the present, this moment, this now that I am living in. I-_

The leaf made a concentrated assault on her ear, first tracing the outer edge and then spiraling in to poke directly into her eardrum. She cringed away from it, but it followed the movement of her head, oddly vindictive for a non-sentient plant.

"_Saiya …" _The breathy whisper seemed to come from all around her, as if the earth itself was calling her name. _"Saiii-yaaa …" _The syllables were playfully drawn out and murmured in a sing-song tone.

"_What?" _she answered silently.

"Saiya."

Her eyes snapped open, meditation hopelessly shattered. There was no mistaking _that _voice.

"What do you want, Baal?" she asked, sounding sulkier than she had intended.

He didn't answer, only sat down beside her, shoulder-to-shoulder but facing in the opposite direction. She wondered how he had been able to sneak up on her. Usually in her deepest state of focus she was aware of every spark of life within a significant radius, yet somehow she had completely overlooked his presence.

The answer came to her almost immediately. He was by now so familiar to her that she did not mark when he _was _with her, only when he _wasn't. _

She tried again. "Weren't you with Leah?"

"Yes," he said frankly.

"So where is she?"

"She went back to town."

"What were you two talking about?"

He turned his head to look at her, eyes narrowed slightly as if he was trying to work something out. He said, "Nothing much. She wanted to thank me again, and share some theories about Maghda and the cultists."

"Oh." Saiya was at a loss for words. At last she said, "I heard from Kormac about the strange man that you found at the bottom of the cathedral."

Baal said nothing.

"What do you make of that?"

He shrugged. "He was undoubtedly the source of the awesome power that woke the dead, but he himself is not demonic in nature. Until he regains his memory, however, he is useless to me, like a dry streambed or a door without a handle."

Saiya frowned at him. "That isn't very kind."

"I didn't say he was useless, just that he was useless to _me._" He was still giving her that searching stare. "What's the matter with you today, Saiya? You seem all out of sorts, not at all your usual self. Is something bothering you?"

"Oh no," she said with false brightness. "Not at all! I don't care a bit that you haven't asked me how I'm feeling, or expressed any sort of relief that I'm still among the living. It seems that everyone else feared for my life, but clearly you didn't."

He started laughing, which annoyed her even further.

"Or maybe you just don't think that lying unconscious for several days is any cause for concern," she snapped, but beneath her prickly words was real hurt. She had thought he cared more.

Baal's laughter stopped immediately when he realized that she was not speaking in jest. "I'm sorry, Saiya," he said sincerely. "It was thoughtless of me not to ask how you are feeling. I assumed that since you were out of bed you must have made a full recovery."

"Well, I have, more or less," she admitted. "I'm still a bit weak – actually Brother Malachi wanted me to stay abed longer, but I figured that two full days of sleep was long enough."

He nodded. "Regarding your other statement, of course I was worried about you. But I knew that you weren't in serious danger. A person as strong as you could never be taken down by an old bag of bones like Leoric."

"Strong?" she repeated, unable to fully believe that he meant it. "You think _I'm _strong?"

"You know," he sighed, "for such a sensible person you can be really dense. Do you really think Kormac and I could have taken down the Skeleton King without you?"

"Yes."

"Well, maybe, but it would have cost us dearly. Probably as least one of us would have died. You might not have noticed, but I am not suited for close-quarters combat. If I have faced Leoric out on an open plain with all the room in the world, I could have stayed at a distance and put my shots where they would count most. As it was, I almost got my innards pasted all over the floor."

"Only because I fell off the damn cliff and you had to pull me back up again," she argued.

"Whatever, Saiya. I'm not going to argue with you about who saved whom. My point is, I'm a naturally cautious person. I wouldn't give you my back if I didn't trust you to watch it."

"Oh. Huh." Saiya was once more unable to think of anything adequate to say, but this time it was because the magnitude of his faith in her was humbling.

"I've noticed something during the time that I've known you," Baal went on. "You seem to have this idea that people – or rather, me in particular – that I don't care about you, despite all evidence to the contrary. Just what will it take to convince you that you _are _in fact my friend, and that your wellbeing is of great importance to me?"

He sounded frustrated, but Saiya was not concentrating on the nuances of his tone. Her mind was, without her permission, busy imagining _exactly _what he could do to convince her that she was important to him. With some effort she stopped herself (no use traveling down that path without some signal from him to light the way) and mustered enough wits to say, "Sorry I've doubted you so much. I guess I just don't understand why you would even want to be friends with me."

Baal's mouth dropped open. "You don't _what? _I can't even begin to-"

His voice stopped as suddenly as if it had been cut from his throat. He sat bolt upright, staring intently at something unseen in the distant woodlands. Then he sniffed at the air, his expression growing grim.

"Something's wrong," he said.

Immediately Saiya was on the alert as well. Her brass knuckles were back at the infirmary, of course, but Baal never went anywhere without his crossbows, and in Saiya's case a smooth stone from the river or a broken-off tree branch would be almost as effective as her beloved weapons.

"How many?" she murmured. But Baal shook his head, not moving an inch.

"There is a strong stench of demon in the air," he said, "but I do not think that we're in danger. I smell fear, and … blood."

As he spoke, Saiya heard the sounds of someone running at speed through the forest; not a purposeful sprint but the panicked dash of someone being pursued. Whoever it was took no care to hide their passage. The entire woodland had to know of the intruder.

Baal rose to his feet and faded into the shadow of a thick bush, the green-tinged light dappled on his black clothes. Only his eyes stood out, peering through the trees with the keen stare of a hunter. Saiya, who stood out like a mushroom in a roadway with her yellow robe and white-blonde hair, settled for making herself as small as possible behind a nearby boulder.

Within minutes the runner drew close enough to see clearly. It was a girl, no more than ten years of age, dressed in torn clothes streaked with blood. Her eyes were wide and unseeing: as Saiya watched, she tripped on a tree root in plain view and tumbled face-first onto the ground. The fall looked hard enough to stun, but the girl pushed herself up at once and continued, weaving crazily between the trunks of trees. To judge by the way her chest was heaving, and the labored gasps she made, she had been running flat-out for quite some time.

Saiya looked at Baal for some sign of what to do. His eyes were riveted on the child, but he held up a hand in her direction, palm flat out as if to say, _Don't move. _Saiya held still, though all of her instincts drove her to stop the girl and provide her with the help she so clearly needed.

The child would have passed their hiding spots without even noticing them had she not stumbled again, this time over her own feet. Baal reached out and caught her with one arm before she could fall. The girl looked up at him blindly for a few seconds. Then she began to scream.

"Hush, love, it's all right!" Saiya said, hurrying forward and grabbing the girl's hands before she could strike at the demon hunter. The wide eyes turned to her, and seemed to calm a bit at the sight of her.

"You're safe now," she continued. "We're friends. We're going to help you. Tell us, what are you running from?"

"The goat men," whispered the child. "They attacked us … out on the red plain. Mama … please save my mama … please!"

Then her eyes rolled up in her head and she collapsed limp into Baal's arms.


	13. 13 - Light and Darkness

**Amor Vincit Omnia**

**(Love Conquers All)**

**WARNING: Some close-to-M-rated content in this chapter (which also happens to be the longest on record, at 5600 words). Most of the chapter is T, but near the end there's some graphic descriptions of violence, both normal and sexual in nature. If this is a trigger for you, please skip. You have been warned. **

Chapter Thirteen: Light and Darkness

Baal lifted the child carefully up, cradling her tenderly. His eyes burned as he took in her bare, bloodied feet and the scratches on her arms and face. She was a pretty girl, with the promise of true beauty in her delicate bones, large eyes, and pert little mouth, but she was painfully malnourished and her black hair was a rat's nest of tangles.

"Saiya," the demon hunter said, "run back to New Tristram ahead of me. I'll bring the kid. Tell Rumford to gather up a squad of men, and hurry!"

Saiya didn't need to be told twice. She sped off through the forest in the direction of the road, the gut-churning awareness of disaster spurring her on. She could not forget the stricken look on Baal's face at the girl's heart-rending plea: _"Please save my mama!" _

A lookout on the wall saw her coming and must have guessed the nature of her need, for Rumford was waiting for her at the gate when she staggered in, winded and aching from her sprint. He held her up while she caught her breath. As soon as she could speak, she poured out the whole story, and his mouth tightened to a grim line.

"Gods damn it," he snarled. "I warned Mayor Holus about the goatmen, I told him they were a threat to the population and should be eradicated, but did he listen to me? Would he consent to pay a single coin more to have his lands made safe? No, of course not! Damned money-grubbing bastard!"

"Captain, who are the goatmen?" Saiya asked.

"A tribe of half-demon barbarians from the highlands in the far north," Rumford replied. "Several years ago we fought a short but bloody war with them and drove them out of this area, but I always knew that we wouldn't be safe until they were all dead."

"The girl said that her family was attacked on the 'red plain'. Surely she could not have run all the way from the highlands!"

"She must be referring to the Fields of Misery, past the graveyards where the catacombs lie. In Leoric's time the Fields were the site of a vicious slaughter of civilians carried out by his soldiers, and the soil is still red with their blood. None of us go up that way if we can help it. The child must belong to a group of travelers." He shook his head in despair. "If she has come so far, the attack must have occurred several days ago at least. I fear for the survival of her kin. The goatmen have very … unpleasant habits … regarding the treatment of their victims, especially the women."

While they talked they had been heading for the guardhouse at a fast clip, and now Rumford threw open the door and shouted, "Attention! Squad of twenty, form up sharp! I want you ready to march within an hour!"

He closed the door again and, turning to Saiya, said, "I'm off to prepare. Wish me luck and godspeed, my Lady, and pray that there are still people to be saved."

"I'm coming with you, Captain," Saiya said.

"I can't let you do that!" he protested. "Saiya, you've only just returned from a battle that left you unconscious for two days straight! Please, just let us handle this and take some time to rest. You deserve it."

"I'm fine," she said stubbornly. "If you won't let me join you, then I'll go on ahead with you."

Rumford's glare was smoldering. "If I was your father," he began, raising a hand in a demonstrative gesture.

"But you aren't," she said, "and, though I respect you highly, I am not under your command. Please accept my choice. I am not trying to spite you or make use of the kindness and tolerance you have shown me, but I feel that I must go with you and do what I can to help."

The soldier's stern scowl softened somewhat. "Very well," he sighed. "I see I can do nothing to convince you otherwise. It's a good thing you are not my daughter; to raise such a pig-headed creature as yourself would no doubt exceed my capabilities. But if you do accompany us, know that I hold you responsible for your own safety. I will not task my men with watching over you."

"Nor would I want you to," she replied, content that she had won the debate.

Rumford's mouth twitched, fought valiantly for a moment, then surrendered into a wry grin. He slapped her on the shoulder and said, "We'll be glad for your help, honestly. The men have already dubbed you 'Iron Wind', because in battle you are as swift as the wind and you strike as hard as iron. It seems fitting."

"'Iron Wind' Saiya," she mused, trying the nom-de-guerre and finding that it appealed to her. "I like it. See you at the gate in an hour, Captain."

He saluted her and strode away, while Saiya turned and headed in the other direction, towards the infirmary. At the door she met Baal. The girl in his arms was conscious now, but not coherent. As he bore her inside and handed her into the care of Brother Malachi, she rambled on about a rainstorm and the sound of drums.

As she gathered her modest belongings, Saiya kept a watchful eye on her friend, half-expecting him to take Captain Rumford's part and forbid her to join the expedition. But he said nothing either to dissuade or encourage her.

Brother Malachi, on the other hand, nearly suffered an apoplexy when she informed him of her imminent departure. For such a mild-mannered person he could be quite intimidating when angry, and finally to calm him Baal had to intercede and make a pledge to scrupulously monitor Saiya's health while they were away from town. Even then the priest would not consent to release Saiya until he had bombarded her with enough tonics, poultices, and advice to treat an entire army.

They bid farewell to Kormac, who was extremely disappointed that he could not accompany them, and walked down to the front gate, pausing only to visit Deckard Cain's house and collect the few belongings they had left there.

There was a stranger sitting in the living room, staring blankly into the fire. Saiya knew at once that he was the one who had come from the fallen star. Kormac's description of him had been quite accurate; he was indeed a giant. Had he been standing, he would have topped Baal by nearly half a foot, and the demon hunter was by no means short. But unlike Baal, this man was built like an oak tree, with powerful limbs, a thick torso, and broad shoulders. He looked like he could crush a man's skull one-handed. But there was something beautiful about his face, though he was not young and his features were coarse. Saiya identified it after a few moments and her wonderment only increased. The beauty that she saw was the innocence of a newborn child that has not yet learned of the evil of the world. But there was sadness there, too, a deep yearning sorrow as if for something precious permanently lost.

"Najmah," Baal said.

The man looked slowly around. For several seconds his eyes remained unfocused but then he blinked, shook himself a little, and said, "Good morning, Baal. How are you today?" His voice was a cavernous rumble.

"I am well, thank you," said Baal politely. "I want to introduce you to a friend of mine. Saiya, this is our 'fallen star'. Until he remembers his real name, I've decided to call him Najmah. It means 'star' in the language of my own people."

Saiya looked at him in surprise. Despite his slight accent, it had never occurred to her that Khanduran was not his birth tongue. He must have been very young when he learned it, she thought, or else extraordinarily proficient in linguistics.

Najmah rose up from the chair and crossed the room in two large strides. She held out her hand to him in greeting and he took it as gingerly as if he was picking up a kitten.

"Saiya," he said. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance at last. I wish thank you sincerely for your part in my rescue from the cathedral."

"You're very welcome," she said, smiling up at him.

"Najmah, is Deckard around?" Baal asked. "Or Leah, perhaps?"

The giant shook his head. "Neither one, I'm afraid. They went off early this morning, and do not plan to return until nightfall."

"Will you give them a message for me? Tell them that Saiya and I went to the Fields of Misery. They'll know what it means."

"I will do this," Najmah said, nodding.

"Thank you. Saiya, you might want to grab something from the kitchen. I'll be a long march north, and I doubt we'll break often or for long." Baal went downstairs to fetch their packs, and Saiya heeded his good advice and selected a meat-filled dumpling and a ripe pear. Then they continued on to the front gate, where Rumford's men had already assembled. Aidel, Jan, and Pip were there, as well as the Captain himself, and a few others that Saiya knew. Selvin, the oldest of New Tristram's regiment and Rumford's second-in-command. Erik and Alek, the twins who always finished each other's sentences. Robert Pace, who besides being a rudimentary battle mage was also an accomplished practical joker.

It was nearly afternoon when they started out, marching in a double line ten men long, with Rumford at the lead. Baal and Saiya stayed in the very back, where they could set their own pace. Baal was unusually reticent, responding with monosyllables to any attempts Saiya made at starting a conversation. At first she thought that he was in a foul mood, but she knew his facial expressions well enough by now, and there was no trace of the narrowed eyes and fierce scowl that signified displeasure. Rather, he looked fretful – almost nervous. Once she touched his elbow, and he started and whipped his head around as if he'd forgotten she was there.

"Are you all right, Baal?" she asked. "You seem on edge."

"I'm fine," he said, but his voice held no conviction.

"You don't look fine," she pressed. "You're … you're trembling! Are you cold?"

He skewered her with his most potent glare, snapped, "I said I'm fine!" and vanished into the woods besides the trail.

"Where are you going?" she called after him, and the reply floated faintly back: "Scouting ahead!"

When he returned a short while later she did not try to question him again, but his jumpiness unnerved her, and the silence as they walked was tight with tension. Saiya, for her part, was beginning to regret the ambitious decision to join the group. Her pack was chafing cruelly against her bruised skin, and weariness dragged at every limb like the waters of a bottomless black pool, trying to pull her down and drown her. When they stopped several hours later for a quick breather, her legs were shaking with exertion.

Rumford, patrolling the line, passed her by and gave her a look that was equal parts reproach, pity, and irritation.

"You may recall, Saiya, I counseled against this imprudence," he said. "We're no more than nine miles out from the town. Perhaps you should return now, while you can still walk."

She doggedly shook her head, saying, "Don't worry about me, Captain."

Rumford shrugged and continued his inspection, but as they set off again she felt the oppressive weight of her pack suddenly ease.

"I'll carry this," Baal said.

"What? No, that's okay."

But when she tried to grab it back from him, he swung it out of her reach. Realizing that chasing him around would only make her look foolish, she gave up and allowed him to literally shoulder her burden. Secretly, she was glad, though she would never have admitted it.

They made camp for the night a few miles out from the cemetery, as the sun was sinking beyond the distant mountains. With the men efficiently divided into groups, it was not long before tents had been erected, a bonfire was merrily staving off the shadows, and a cauldron of the eclectic mess known as 'Soldiers' Stew' bubbled and released strange odors into the air.

When her turn came to collect her dinner, Saiya was rather skeptical about whether or not it was even edible. She held out her empty bowl, and the cook, an absurdly skinny fellow by the name of Pallom, deposited a ladle full of creamy brown sludge, with chunks of unidentified matter scattered throughout. Then he dropped a hard biscuit into her hand and barked, "Next!"

Saiya found a place on a nearby fallen log and Pip came and sat down beside her. In spite of the gravity of their mission, the young man was as buoyant as ever and Saiya found his high spirits a welcome relief from Baal's gloominess.

She tried the biscuit first, but it was so stale that she nearly broke a tooth trying to bite into it. "I think the cook packed old rations by accident," she grumbled.

"No, no," Pip said. "It's hardtack. It's supposed to be that tough. Haven't you ever had hardtack before?"

Saiya shook her head. "How are you supposed to eat it?"

"Dip it in your stew, of course!" he laughed, demonstrating. Saiya tried and found that, softened, biting into it was much more feasible. The flavor was bland but not unpleasant, and contrary to all her expectations, the soup was excellent. The questionable lumps were revealed to be chunks of venison, turnips, carrots, and onions and the thick broth contained a perfect mix of spices. She thought back to the days of eating unsalted rice with every meal and shook her head at her own culinary ignorance.

Turning to Pip to ask a question, she caught him staring dreamily off into space, a silent word hovering on his full lips. It looked like 'Roxanne'.

"What were _you _thinking about?" she teased, poking him gently in the side.

Pip blushed, stuttered a bit, and finally gave a bashful chuckle. "I'm getting married," he admitted.

"What!" Saiya exclaimed, shocked. "To who?"

"Not so loud!" he hissed, looking guiltily around to make sure no one had heard. "Her father doesn't approve of me. He says that I'm a 'wayward weed looking to spread my seed'. He has quite a thing about rhyming."

"I see," she said, struggling to keep a straight face. "But who's the lucky girl?"

"Her name's Roxanne." Pip could not have sounded any more worshipful if he was speaking of a goddess. "She's the daughter of a fisherman from Wortham. I met her when I went there a few days ago to buy some supplies for my mother. She's divine. Roxanne, that is, not my mother. I mean, I love my mother, but Roxanne …"

"I get it," Saiya said. "But Pip, are you really getting married when you only met her a few days ago? Isn't that kind of rushing things?"

"Not at all!" he said. "I've been sneaking out to see her every night."

"Mmm. 'Spreading your seed', I take it."

Pip's cheeks went from rosy-pink to beet-colored. "I intend to do right by her, Saiya," he said defensively. "My days of chasing after girls is a thing of the past. Roxanne is the only one for me."

"I'm happy for you, Pip, really I am," Saiya said, and they spoke no more about it. But as she lay on her narrow bedroll later, staring up at the pale circle in the black sky where the full moon was obscured by thick clouds, she wondered with a tinge of loneliness if anyone would ever love her the way Pip obviously loved his Roxanne, or if she was doomed to return to the monastery and live out the long years of her old age alone. That idea, which even a few weeks ago had been a clear and not unwelcome possibility in her mind, now seemed unbearable.

"Saiya." The whisper, so soft that it was nearly inaudible, came from the darkness to her left, where Baal was sleeping in his customary sitting position. Except that he could not be asleep, if he was speaking to her. She rolled over and propped herself up on her elbows, peering in his direction. All she could make out were his eyes, glowing like embers.

"What?" she whispered back. They were positioned away from the soldiers' tents, so she was not really worried about waking anyone, but somehow it felt appropriate to speak in hushed voices.

"Why are you still awake?" Baal asked. "I thought you'd be tired out from the march today."

"I am tired," she said, "but I can't sleep anyway."

"Ah. Worried about what we'll find tomorrow?"

"I hadn't been thinking about it, honestly," she admitted, feeling a tweak of guilt that she had almost forgotten their reason for being out here. As she lay here, snug and warm and safe under her blanket, an innocent family might be suffering terribly, or worse, being murdered.

"What's bothering you, then?" Baal pressed.

"Oh, nothing. I'm just indulging in a little self-pity, that's all."

"Why?"

On the spur of the moment, she decided to tell him. "I suppose because it's not likely that anyone will ever want to marry me."

There was a long moment of silence following this proclamation, and Saiya began to wonder if Baal had actually fallen asleep. Then he said, "But you're a monk, aren't you? Don't you have to take a vow of chastity to belong to the order at all?"

"Normally, yes, but since I was raised at the monastery, I'm still only an acolyte. In fact, that's the reason why the head monk sent me away. He wanted me to have a chance to experience life outside the temple before I took my vow so that I would have nothing to regret."

"I see. And are you having second thoughts?"

"Yes." It was difficult to get the word out, but it felt good to say it at last.

"What's the cause of that, if you don't mind my asking."

'_Meeting you,' _would have been the truthful answer, but Saiya was not ready to give that away. Instead, she told him about Pip's betrothal. She could almost see the distain on his face as he said, "What? You're not in love with _him, _are you?"

"Who, Pip?" Saiya said. "No, of course not. It's just that seeing people my own age getting married makes me think about my own future."

"Oh." Silence. Then, "Good, I'm glad."

"That I'm thinking about my future?" she asked, confused.

"No, I'm glad that you're not in love with Pip."

Saiya scowled at him, though it was a futile effort in the dark. _Though, who knows, _she thought, _maybe he has night vision like a cat. With those eyes, it wouldn't surprise me. _

"That's a rude thing to say," she scolded. "I think Pip is a nice young man that any girl should be proud to claim."

Baal snorted.

"Anyway," she continued, "why do you care who I fall in love with?"

"I don't," he said, so matter-of-factly that it was almost crushing.

"You … _don't_?" she reiterated.

"No, why would I? As long as he treats you well, that is. If he doesn't, I'll kill him."

Saiya was not prepared for the pain that overwhelmed her like a flash flood in a dry canyon at his casual words. The message of disinterest could not be clearer. Spitefully, wanting to get paltry revenge, she said, "Well, what if it was Caesar?"

Baal make a strangled sound. "That's not funny, Saiya."

"Who said I was joking?"

The shadows swirled, and suddenly he was right in front of her, crouching down so their faces were level. His eyes blazed at her and his voice was deadly soft as he said, "You're in love with Caesar?"

Saiya had intended to run with it – if he was going to step on her heart, at least she could get some entertainment out of seeing him squirm – but her nerve failed her as she stared into the twin furnaces of his pupils, and she said, "Not really. I find him attractive, but I don't know him very well."

Baal's tense muscles seemed to loosen a bit, and he rocked back on his heels. "I can't stand that little bastard sorcerer," he muttered, only half speaking to Saiya.

"So you've said," she replied dryly. "Many times. That reminds me, we haven't seen him since you, uh, _doctored his wine. _I wonder if he and Ghor returned to New Tristram, or if they went elsewhere."

"Hopefully they fell in the river and drowned," Baal said. "Caesar, anyway. I didn't mind the woman. She was quiet, at least."

Saiya didn't respond. She expected him to go back to his own spot, but he stayed where he was, head tilted back, gazing up at the veiled sky. After a minute Saiya rolled back over, pulled the blanket up to her chin, and did her best to ignore him. She could forgive him, she thought, for not being attracted to her, but for the moment she wanted a little distance to let a scab form over the wound of rejection.

Yet Baal did not move. After a time, she grew drowsy and was no longer so sharply aware of his presence. And then, on the border between the land of waking and the land of dreams, she thought she felt a hand brush tenderly across her forehead and a whisper like a prayer in her ear: "Sweet dreams, Saiya." But whether it was the living, breathing Baal or just the Baal of her imagination, she could not tell. Then sleep claimed her, and when she woke at first light, the gentle touch and kind words were nothing more than half a memory, fading in the cold rays of dawn.

The team assigned to cooking prepared a light breakfast of fried bacon and toasted bread, while the others broke down the camp. As they ate, Saiya watched Baal carefully for any sign that their awkward conversation of the night before might have adversely affected their friendship, but he seemed perfectly normal, if a bit groggy.

All frivolous thoughts of romance vanished from her mind, however, as soon as they formed into columns and began to march. The mood was markedly different from the previous day. When they left New Tristram, the men were laughing and chanting war songs. Today they were as silent as the grave. Perhaps it was the bone-numbing cold and ominous thunderheads crowding the sky. Perhaps it was the distant graveyard with its rows of crooked unmarked stones. Or perhaps it was the knowledge of what they were marching towards.

No risen dead stirred as they passed through the cemetery. Baal theorized that they did not like the damp and frigid weather and preferred to stay underground. Saiya was not sure whether she was relieved or dissatisfied that no horrors rose up from the earth to block their path. On the one hand, it meant that they were able to travel in safety. On the other hand, tensions were running high and a little light combat would have gone a long way towards releasing some of the soldiers' stress.

Beyond the graveyard, past the sealed stone doors that led into the catacombs, was an iron gate rusted shut by long years of disuse. Several of the men cut a thick limb from a nearby oak and used it as a battering ram. Breaking through in a blast of metal splinters, they continued down a path to the grey, swollen river, which was bridged by a shaky wooden structure that looked unfit to support a cat.

"Single-file," Rumford ordered. "Groups of five only, next one waits until the one before is safely across. Get to it!"

In this way, they forded the river. Saiya, Baal, and the Captain crossed last. The first drops of rain began to fall as they entered the red plains on the other side, and soon they were marching on muddy soil through a raging downpour. Saiya could see why they were called the Fields of Misery. There was a desolation about the place; in the red-stained heather that grew in patches like open wounds on the land, in the tangled, isolated clumps of leafless trees, in the bitter smell of the rain.

They followed the winding road that led up hillocks and down into hollows and across great flat expanses of marshy ground. It wasn't long before the leading soldiers cried out that something was in sight ahead. Drawing near, they saw strange dark shapes in the road: as tall as a tree, and rooted to the ground, but near the top two huge, leathery, bat-like wings unfurled and beat at the air. The first of the creatures opened a toothless maw in its chest and spat out dozens of tiny demons that swarmed around the heads of the soldiers, scratching at their eyes.

Baal knelt to steady his aim and began to fire. Each bolt carried with it to earth a demon, but they were legion and before long his quivers were empty and he was forced to extract the arrows from carcasses to reuse.

Saiya began to snatch the beasts from the air as they swooped close. They were as fragile as birds in her hands, and it was the work of a moment to snap their necks. Her companions saw her method and began to emulate it. Within a few moments a majority of the horde was dead and Baal was able to pick off the few remaining. The demon hunter used a few of his precious bombs to destroy the foul nests from which the things had come.

Continuing down the road, they met with more clusters of nests, but now that the men knew how to deal with them, they could exterminate quickly and with ease. There were few injuries, although one man had lost an eye in the first skirmish.

Baal was the first to spot what they had come for, off to the right – a wagon on its side, the white canvas covering torn and splattered with blood, and a dead horse, partially eaten, still harnessed to the wreckage. The rest of the scene was shielded from their view by the wagon's bulk.

"Two groups, circle around either side," Rumford directed. "Be cautious, boys, we don't know what the situation looks like."

Baal was in the lead, with Saiya right behind him, as they rounded the splintered corner of the wagon. Hearing his sharp intake of breath, she glanced up to see him staring straight ahead, a stricken look on his face. She knew then that their mission was a failure.

It was complete carnage. Bodies torn apart, heads and limbs and entrails scattered randomly over the ground, so that it was difficult to tell precisely how many had been slaughtered. Rot was beginning to set in, and the smell was sickening. But the worst sight of all, the one that Saiya could not drag her horrified gaze from, was the woman lying in the center of the field. She alone had escaped dismemberment, but at a terrible cost. Her dress had been shredded, bruises and bite marks dotted her bare breasts and abdomen, and her hips and thighs were clotted with blood.

Saiya felt a buzzing in her ears, and the ground heaved violently in front of her. She was heedless of the dark shapes moving on either side, walking among the corpses and checking to see if any could be saved. All she could see was the vivid colors of the defiled woman, red on white, and the rain that had fallen on her face, filling her open mouth, running down from the corners of her eyes like tears.

Baal spoke her name, touching her shoulder, but she was made of stone and could not respond to him. There was a miasma building up in her gut, a roiling mass of snakes twisting through her innards, forcing their way up her throat. She choked and spun suddenly away from the massacre, sprinting desperately for the nearest clump of bushes, where she fell to her knees and vomited until all the snakes were gone. Still her stomach contracted, trying to eject what was no longer there. The acid of it burned in her throat and soured her tongue.

Stumbling to her feet, she turned to see Baal coming towards her. She held up her hands, saying, "Don't get too near, I'm filthy," but he didn't stop until he was standing right in front of her. Then he put his arms around her and pulled her close, one hand pressed against the small of her back and the other cradling the back of her head against his shoulder.

"Rumford warned me," she mumbled into the soft, wet leather of his vest. "He told me what to expect, but I didn't listen. Oh Baal, _why_? Why did this have to happen to those poor, innocent people? They _raped _her, Baal, they violated her and then they just left her lying there like she was garbage. How _could _they?"

"Demons don't think the way we do, Saiya," he said. "They don't have the capacity for empathy or mercy. They see us only as prey, and that is why there can never be reconciliation between our two races. Fundamentally, they are wild animals – even the ones that are capable of speech and thought – and as such they must be destroyed so that they will not destroy us first."

"But animals cannot be evil," Saiya said. "They are just trying to survive. Are you saying that demons are the same way? Because _that, _that over there, that woman … that was not an act of survival, it was pure malice. They took pleasure from what they did to her, just like an evil human would."

"Yes," he replied. "It's true that demons deliberately seek to cause harm. I know that better than anyone. But in doing so, they are being true to their nature. I am not excusing it, merely explaining it. Our fear and sorrow and anger is but food to them, it sustains them and makes them more powerful, which is why I have learned to temper my hatred with discipline, lest I inadvertently strengthen my enemy. So when you face a demon, do not let your righteous anger govern you, or sorrow eat at your heart, and above all do not allow yourself to feel fear, for that will be your undoing."

While he was speaking, Saiya had slipped into a state of placid calm, the same mentality she embodied when she was meditating. She was still haunted by the wretched fate of the caravan, but she channeled all her negative emotion into determination to avenge the wrongdoing, and prevent it from happening again. She stepped away from Baal and looked up at his face.

"Thank you," she said. "You've helped me to understand."

He smiled, gentle and sad, and reached out to her, fingertips touching just below her ear and trailing along her jaw line in a tentative caress. He paused at her chin, forefinger curled underneath and thumb resting against the little pucker just below her mouth.

"There are only two things in this world that can defeat darkness, Saiya," he said. "One is a pure and radiant light like your own, which banishes the shadows by illuminating all corners of the earth. The other is a stronger darkness, which eats away at the lesser dark and consumes it. That type of darkness dwells in me, wearing me down like water against rock. Without my discipline to hold it in check, that hatred would devour me body and soul. It is a precarious path I walk. But since meeting you, I have found that my bloodlust has diminished somewhat. I don't feel quite as driven to hunt and kill demons as I used to. I think that perhaps your light has balanced out my darkness. Day and night, sun and moon … one is pointless without the other."

Saiya was surprised by the power and sentiment of his words, the warmth in his eyes, the intimacy of his fingers on her chin. This was a side of Baal that she'd only seen glimpses of before: the sensitive and affectionate man hidden within the hardened shell of the demon hunter. She wondered to herself, _why can't he be like this more often, instead of his usual abrasive behavior? _But as soon as the thought crossed her mind, she realized that the reason that this inner Baal was so dear to her was that his appearance was so rare, and therefore so much more meaningful.

She smiled back at him. He dropped his hand, but she caught hold of it and squeezed, hoping that her appreciation for what he'd done would show in her face.

"I think I'm ready to rejoin the others," she said. "And then let's hunt down the scum that did this and teach them that its they who should fear us, not the other way around."

His grin this time was genuine, and he slapped her shoulder with his free hand.

"That's the spirit!" he said. "We'll make a professional hunter out of you yet."

Together, they turned away from their moment of peace and walked back to the bloodshed and agony that lay waiting. But Saiya felt no pain or fear, just a quiet readiness to do what needed to be done.

**A/N: Ten bonus points if you spotted the movie reference! (Hint: it's a Kurt Russell classic.) **


	14. 14 - The First Shard

**Amor Vincit Omnia**

**(Love Conquers All)**

Chapter Fourteen: The First Shard

Saiya was not the only one who had been seriously affected by the gruesome spectacle. Many of the men wept openly, three had also lost their breakfast, and Pip had fainted dead away. She was relieved that she was not alone; she had been apprehensively expecting mocking comments about her feminine weakness, but none came.

Properly disposing of the victims' bodies was unpleasant work, but no one would willingly have left them to lie there. The intensity of the rain was prohibitive of building a fire, so they dug a mass grave instead, as deeply as could be managed, using wreckage from the cart to break up the ground and scooping soil from the hole with their hands. By the time it was large enough to fit all the dead, the people laboring at the bottom of the pit were slogging through a foot of standing water.

Meanwhile, others had been gathering the dismembered corpses, arranging them as decently as possible on the canvas wagon top, which they had removed and laid out flat on the ground like a crude burial shroud. Saiya wrapped the nude body of the woman in a blanket and laid her with the others, but as she covered the face, Baal knelt down and moved the cloth aside. There was a thin silver chain around the woman's battered neck, with a pendant dangling at the bottom: two concentric metal rings, with a small white stone suspended in the center. Baal unclipped the chain with careful fingers and tucked it into his pocket.

"What are you doing?" Saiya asked sharply.

He looked up at her and said, "It's for the girl."

Saiya blinked. The horror she had been witness to had nearly driven from her mind any recollection of the child that had instigated the mission. With growing dread, she realized what Baal meant.

"You don't think … oh Gods! But we can't be absolutely sure this is her mother, can we? She didn't describe-"

"Do you see any other women?" Baal said, his voice bleak.

"Maybe they were carried off," she suggested, clinging desperately to a hope she knew was futile. Baal shook his head, and she could no longer control herself. Tears sprang to her eyes, running in burning rivulets down her cold cheeks. It was too cruel.

She cried silently while they laid the corpses in the makeshift tomb and covered them over with earth quickly melting into mud. They carried stones from banks of the nearby river and laid them over the ugly bare patch of ground, at once both a grave marker and a barrier against any who would defile the last resting place of the fallen. Finally Saiya set her strongest protective mantra in place, ensuring that no demons could return to take possession of the bodies.

A clear trail of cloven hoof-prints the size of a man's hand led away to the north. From the amount of them, Saiya estimated that more than twenty of the goatmen had been involved in the attack.

They followed the tracks for about five miles to a cave in the side of a heavily wooded knoll. The greenery around the entrance had been heavily trampled, and a wooden totem – a goat's skull with a crescent moon painted in blood on the forehead – was planted in the ground.

"Right, lads," said Rumford, taking stock of the situation. "I'm not going to pretend that this isn't a dangerous situation. In the cave they'll have the advantage; they know the layout and they may have an ambush set up. I want the main lot of you in a tight lance formation, with splinter groups to clear any side passages. And two volunteers, please, to serve as advance scouts."

"Saiya and I will do that, Captain," Baal said. "We're less likely to be noticed by the goatmen than any of you, and both of us are well practiced fighting demons."

"My thanks to the both of you," said Rumford. "Let me teach you the hand signals we use to communicate in a sound-sensitive operation. Point straight ahead and make a clockwise circle with your finger to indicate that the path is safe. Slicing the air horizontally with your hand means that there is danger. Making an upside-down V-shape with fingertips pressed together is 'ambush'; touching the thumbs at the bottom to form a triangle means that the ambush is one that will lead to the group being surrounded. Running your fingers into the flat of your palm normally warns us of a trap, but we're going to use that today to signify a dead end. Waving your hand in front of your face is 'attack now'. And finally, if you discover that we are too badly outnumbered and we still have a chance to get out of there without alerting them, hold up your hands as if you were surrendering and point backwards with your thumbs. If that's the case, we'll fall into a retreat and try another strategy. Got it?"

Baal and Saiya ran through the list a few times until both of them knew the signals by heart. Then, removing their packs and drawing their weapons, they stepped as quietly as possible into the cave.

The first thing Saiya noticed was the smell. It was strong enough to make her gag: an awful combination of rancid meat, urine and feces, and animal musk. Baal wrinkled his nose and mouthed something about 'filthy beasts'. Fishing around in one of the ingredient pouches attached to his belt, he removed several plugs of cloth and a tiny bottle of ointment. Dripping the liquid onto two of the cloth plugs, he handed them over to Saiya, pointing to her nose. She inserted them gingerly into her nostrils and her head instantly cleared as the sharpness of mint and sweetness of rose flooded her sinuses. She knew it looked undignified, having white bits of fabric hanging out of her nose, but the relief of not having to endure the stench was worth the embarrassment.

Baal doled out the fragrance to Rumford's men as they came one by one into the cave. He ran out of cloth plugs after the first few, but they tore pieces from their own sleeves and used those. Soon all twenty-three of the rescue-turned-revenge crew were clustered in the cave mouth, trying not to laugh at each other.

Baal and Saiya advanced further into the cave, moving at a snail's pace. This was for two reason: the necessity for complete silence, and also the need to allow their eyes to adjust to the dim light. The goatmen apparently did not believe in lighting torches.

The floor of the cave was dry sandy soil, which stuck to the bottom of Saiya's bare feet. Every now and then she would step on something soft, and each time she made a conscious decision not to look. She would rather not know.

They soon reached the first fork in the passage. Baal motioned for Saiya to go one way, and he took the other. The young monk crept along, heart hammering in her chest, straining her eyes to peer through the murky darkness. All at once she realized there was a shape ahead of her, not more than two feet away, and she bit her tongue to hold in a scream of fright. A coppery taste filled her mouth.

Saiya couldn't distinguish any more shapes, and she figured that she could take down this single enemy before it could sound the alert. She was just reaching forward, ready to snap its neck, when it turned around. At the last moment she saw the glowing eyes and stopped just short of punching Baal full in the face. He rolled his eyes and Saiya, realizing that their two separate paths must have reconnected, heaved a mute sigh of relief and backtracked to inform Rumford that both ways were safe.

After that the tunnel continued without any offshoots, until they came to a sudden curve, beyond which firelight flickered. Baal, whose black clothes blended best with the shadows, took a quick look around the bend and returned almost at once. Rumford had come tiptoeing up behind, and using the hand signals Baal communicated to him that there was a large group ahead but that they were as of yet unaware of the intruders' presence. Rumford nodded and motioned for his soldiers to go on the offensive.

Baal took a bomb off his belt, lit it, and chucked it into the center of the horde. Moments later, a thick smoke filled the cavern. A panicked bleating broke out, reminiscent of a herd of goats, but deep and raspy. There were human shouts intermingled with the more bestial sounds, but they were in a foreign language.

Rumford's men streamed through the gap into the wider room, Saiya right in the forefront. A bonfire blazed in the center of the room, and by its glow she could see hunched figures, the legs hairy and oddly shaped, the torsos bare, the heads elongated and capped with curled horns. They were armed with rudimentary clubs and spears, and wore only loincloths.

Charging in, she came face to face with one of the goatmen and struck without hesitation, smashing her brass knuckles into its jaw. She felt the bone give way, though the noise of it was lost among the clamor of battle. The half-demon fell to one knee and she finished it off with a knee to the side of the head that shattered its skull.

She ducked down to avoid a swinging club and the goatman attacking her fell back with a crossbow bolt protruding from its eye. She smiled for one instant, knowing that Baal was watching her back, and then there were bodies writhing and weapons flashing all around her, and all extraneous thought ceased. The only thing occupying her mind where to strike next, when to dodge, how to win.

A soldier on her left screamed in pain, diverting her attention. There was a tendril of red magic sprouting from his chest, and as Saiya watching in horror, his flesh withered and he fell to the ground, a shriveled rag of skin and bone. She traced the red bolt to its source and saw a man in a yellow cultist's robe, with wide sleeves and a tall, pointed hood. He bore a goat-headed staff and was tapping it on the ground, muttering incantations in a steady chant under his breath. Another life-draining line shot out from his outstretched hand, missing Pip by a hair.

"Baal!" Saiya cried, hoping that he could hear her over the commotion. "Get the one with the staff! He's the leader!"

Without waiting to see if her message had been received, she started towards the yellow-robed cultist, pushing and weaving her way through the throng. He saw her coming and she got a brief glimpse of a pale, corpse-like visage and solid white eyes beneath the hood before he swung his staff in a wide circle and a wave of force slammed into her, knocking her flat on her back. The back of her head bounced off the sandy floor, and the craggy ceiling swam in front of her eyes, but she felt no pain. Rolling to her feet, she dashed forward again, kicking a surprised goatman out of her way.

The cultist tried to blast her again, but she jumped to the side and swung out at him with all her strength. Her first two blows fell short as he bent backwards like a limber sapling. But, off balance, he was not prepared for her knee, coming up in a blur of motion to clout him in the ribs. He staggered, hissing in fury, and she kicked him again, leaving a smear of mud and sand across the front of his robe. A fierce uppercut sent him reeling into a nearby altar. Candles, bones, and various grotesque religious paraphernalia scattered across the floor.

Thinking her opponent stunned, Saiya closed in for the kill and was caught off guard by the red beam that lanced out from his hand, piercing right through her heart. Although there was no physical damage to her body she could feel the demonic magic sucking away her energy. A faintness took hold of her muscles and she wobbled on her feet, no longer able to support herself. Her brain was equally paralyzed; she could not even begin to comprehend what was happening to her – only that it was very bad.

Then, all at once, the tenuous connection was severed. Her life-force returned to her like a wave rolling onto shore after the ebb of a tide. The yellow-robed cultist was clutching his throat with both hands. His mouth stretched wide, but rather than words a gout of dark blood spewed forth, and he fell on his face and lay still. Saiya nudged him with her toe and got no response.

Abruptly she realized that it was very quiet in the cave, compared to the deafening racket of several moments before. Turning, she saw that the battle had been victorious and their losses relatively few. Five of the soldiers were down, two obviously dead and the others merely wounded. By contrast some two dozen goatmen and eight human cultists had met their end.

Baal pushed through the tight knot of survivors and came up to her, his eyes dark with concern. "Are you all right?" he asked.

"I think so," Saiya replied. She looked down at the lifeless man sprawled at her feet. The leather-bound handle of a throwing knife stuck out from between his rigid fingers. Baal crouched down, pried the stiff hands away, and tugged his knife free, wiping it off on his boot. Then he froze, eyes riveted on something lying on the ground. Saiya followed his gaze to see the snapped-off end of a sword blade among the debris that had been swept off the altar. She did not see anything remarkable about it, but it had clearly captured Baal's interest.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"That smell …" he murmured. "It's the same scent that surrounded Najmah when I found him. Cold and bright like the stars …"

He reached out to pick up the metal shard, but as he touched it a woman materialized in a froth of tiny purple butterflies. Baal was on his feet in an instant, crossbow at the ready, and Saiya echoed his stance.

"Who are you, to take what is mine?" the woman demanded. She was the strangest-looking person Saiya had ever seen. Dead white skin contrasted sharply with the painted purple of her lips and the lines of black around her browless eyes. Her headpiece resembled two thick horns, purple as well and made up of a number of small rectangular plates linked together. The bodice of her dress was black, as were the garters on her slender legs, and the skirt was purple, with a shorter overskirt of green. But perhaps the oddest thing were the two enormous, shimmering butterflies that perched on either shoulder and fluttered their wings, allowing her to levitate a foot or so off the ground. She looked like an insect herself, and her movements in the air were sinuous.

"Maghda, I presume," Baal said coldly. "What is your purpose in these lands? I know that you serve Belial. What interest could the Lord of Lies possibly have here?"

Maghda laughed: a high, grating sound. "You know my name, boy, but you have not done me the honor of introducing yourself." She clicked her tongue at him in mocking disapproval.

"I am called Baal," he said. "I hunt your kind, witch, and the demons that are your thralls."

"Baal, hmm? Strange, if you are such a renowned hunter, that I have never heard of you. Strange as well that for one who despises demons you have taken the name of one of the most powerful. Why is that, I wonder?"

"That is no one's business but my own, and especially no concern of yours, witch!" Baal snarled. "Stand down; I am taking this sword piece."

"You don't even know what it is," she said contemptuously.

Baal smirked. "I know enough. Will you stand down, or must I kill you? I assure you that to do so would not grieve me in the slightest."

Maghda waved a lazy hand. "Take it, then. But it will do you no good, for only I know where the other two have fallen. Good luck in your demon hunting, _boy_. I will make certain to tell Baalzibal that there is a human child running around using his name. He will be most amused, I am sure."

With those parting words she vanished as suddenly as she had come, leaving a faint odor of rose petals drifting in the air, with an underlying taint of bitterness. Baal stood stiffly, his eyes boring into the place where the witch had been. Droplets of sweat stood out on his forehead despite the chill in the cave.

The sound of boots crunching on sand snapped him out of his reverie, and he turned to face Captain Rumford. A cut on the soldier's temple was oozing blood, but he appeared to be otherwise unharmed.

"What the hell was _that _about?" he demanded. "Who was that woman?"

As succinctly as possible, Baal explained what they knew of the involvement of the cultists in the demonic plague. He concluded by showing Rumford the broken sword-tip.

"Do you really think this has something to do with the man you found in the cathedral?" the Captain asked.

"I'm sure of it," Baal replied.

"Perhaps if we show it to him, it will help him regain his memories," Saiya suggested. "Now that we've taken care of the goatmen, we should return to New Tristram right away."

"I agree," Rumford said. "Let's take care of our fallen, and then-"

"No," Baal interrupted. When they looked at him in surprise, he said, "You and your men should go back, by all means, Captain, and you're free to go with him, Saiya, but I'm going to stay here. Maghda said there were _three _pieces of the sword, and I intend to find them all. I have a feeling that to allow any of them to fall into her hands would be a very bad move indeed."

"I'll stay with you, of course," Saiya said, "but how will we know where to search for the other pieces?"

"We don't need to," he said. "If my intuition is correct, they will come right to us. Najmah's aura woke the dead in the cathedral, and this sword fragment drove the goatmen to rampage. All we'll have to do is follow the trail of devastation."

"My men and I will stay and assist you in your endeavors," said Rumford.

"Thank you for the offer, Captain, but that won't be necessary," Baal said. "Saiya and I can handle it."

"Well, actually-" Saiya began, but Baal kept going as if she had not even spoken.

"You should return to your town at once. If Maghda, and by inclusion her master Belial, have an interest in this mysterious sword, then it stands to reason that they will go after Najmah as well, and that could put you all in danger. Warn Deckard Cain, and prepare for a siege as best you can. We will try to do our part quickly and return to help you."

Rumford nodded. "Good luck, then. I'm glad to have you on our side, sir."

"I'm honored to fight with you," Baal said, inclining his head for a brief moment in as grand a gesture of respect as Saiya had ever seen him show. Then his expression turned businesslike and he wrapped the sword point in cloth and tucked it into his belt-pouch. Turning to Saiya, he said, "Let's be off," and strode away, stepping over, between, and occasionally _on_ the bodies that lay thick on the floor. The crowd of soldiers parted to let him through.

"Wait!" Saiya called, but he did not pause or look around, only motioned impatiently to her with one hand. Annoyed at his arrogance and lack of consideration but not wanting to be left behind, she hastily embraced Rumford and said, "Take care of yourself, Captain."

"You as well," he said warmly. Then, lowering his voice, he added, "Forgive me, Saiya, for trying to stop you from accompanying us. I won't doubt you again. Gods, but you are a rare sight on the battlefield! The 'Iron Wind' in truth!"

She blushed with pleasure at the compliment, but could afford to stay no longer. Baal had almost reached the other side of the cavern. She ran ignobly after him, calling out farewells to her friends as she passed. Then they were hurrying up the tunnel and out into the fresh air. It was with much relief that Saiya removed the cloth plugs from her nose and inhaled the sweet, rain-laden breeze.

She and Baal collected their packs from the pile and checked to make sure that they had not left anything behind. Then they were marching north on the road again. The rain had lessened to a steady drizzle, but Saiya was already so thoroughly drenched that it hardly mattered. It was impossible to see the sun through the thick clouds, but she estimated that it was late in the afternoon. Certainly her stomach had no difficulty in convincing her that it had been many hours since breakfast, and she had thrown that up.

But when she suggested to her companion that perhaps they could stop for a bite to eat, he just gave her a chilly, unimpressed stare and said, "We don't have time to waste, Saiya. If you wanted to relax, you should have stayed with Rumford."

"What's the matter with you?" she growled, incensed. "I thought you wanted to me come with you."

"The choice was yours," he replied. "I don't care one way or the other."

His indifference stung, but she made a great effort to restrain her hurt accusations. "I'm serious, Baal," she said quietly. "You've been acting strangely ever since we left New Tristram yesterday, and I want to know why."

"I don't want to talk about it."

She stopped in her tracks, arms crossed. With a sigh of resignation, he halted as well and stood looking at her, silently waiting.

"We made an agreement when we decided to work together," she said. "Do you remember that?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, of course I do."

"Do you remember the part where you promised to tell me what was going on in your mind?"

"I recall the exact condition being, 'anything relating to our shared work'. Which this is not."

"Maybe not directly," Saiya said, "but it _is_ affecting your behavior towards me, therefore I maintain that I have a right to know."

He looked uncomfortable. "Look, Saiya, I'm sorry if I've been rude to you. I admit that I'm a bit preoccupied. But I must insist that you respect my desire not to discuss this. I promise that it has nothing to do with our quest."

Saiya shrugged, recognizing defeat when she saw it. "Whatever you say. But if you ever change your mind and want to talk, I'll be there to listen. As your friend."

"I appreciate that," he said. "Now, I see a tree over that that would make good shelter."

"Huh?" said Saiya, confused by his abrupt change in attitude.

"You said you were hungry, didn't you? I can't have you passing out on me, so let's stop and have some lunch."

The tree in question was an ancient oak, larger than any of its species that Saiya had seen before. It stood out in the lonely field like a sentinel guarding the land. Half-way up the mighty trunk split in two, and one whole limb was bare and blackened where lightning had struck many years ago. Jagged scorch marks ran down the trunk all the way to the ground.

Saiya sank gratefully down on the dry grass at the base of the tree, stretching out her sore legs with a groan, but Baal stayed on his feet, pacing around trunk and sniffing at the air with narrowed eyes.

"I smell demons," he said. "Quite strong, too."

"Want me to set a mantra?" she asked.

"No, you need to conserve your energy. Just stay on your guard."

Saiya dug around in her pack and brought out two apples, some bread and cheese, and a few slices of cured ham, and soon they were sinking their teeth hungrily into thick sandwiches. Baal's moodiness seemed to have dissipated, and they bantered easily while they ate. Afterwards he brought out his flask of brandy and they each took a fortifying sip.

"Are you ready?" Baal asked.

"Yep," Saiya replied, chucking the apple cores off into the field and brushing the crumbs off her lap. Slinging her pack over her shoulder, she stepped out from under the protective umbrella of branches and into the rain. She had gone only a few paces, however, before she realized that Baal was not with her. Turning back, she frowned as she saw him still reclining at the base of the tree. His posture looked rather unnatural – head turned sharply to one side, and every limb stiff as though he was straining to lift a heavy weight.

"Are you coming or not?" she called.

There was no answer. Beginning to grow worried, she walked back towards him. "Baal? Are you all ri-!" Her question ended in a sharp gasp as she understood his reason for immobility. Tree roots had burst out of the soil all around him, twining around his body and binding him tightly in place. She could see his chest heaving as he struggled to breath against the living ropes.

"Baal!" she cried, dropping down beside him and trying in vain to pry the roots away. They were as supple as cloth despite being solid wood, and they were evidently sentient as well, for they responded to her attempts to dislodge them by tightening. Baal's face began to turn purple as his air supply was cut off by a wooden tendril wrapped around his neck.

"Let him go!" Saiya yelled, kicking the trunk of the oak as hard as she could. She felt the bark shudder slightly on impact, but the tree did not release its prisoner. Baal coughed, trying to speak, but his voice was too distorted by the pressure on his throat for her to understand. She knelt down and put her ear right to his mouth.

"What did you say?"

"Fff … fff-iii-rre," he choked out.

"Right!" Fumbling at his waist, she managed to extract one of the bombs and, after a few failed efforts and lots of cursing, light the fuse with the flint and tinder. She hurled the bomb into the upper branches of the tree and then threw herself over Baal, shielding his body with her own. They were pressed so tightly together that she could feel the roots sliding past as they retracted back into the ground.

The tree, having no vocal cords, was incapable of making a sound, but the silent, frantic flailing of its branches as it tried to shake the flames away was almost worse. Saiya and Baal stumbled to their feet and sprinted away from the burning oak. The rain extinguished the fire before any serious damage could be done, but at least the bomb had served its purpose.

Thinking they were at a safe distance, they stopped to catch their breath and watched in amazement as the tree wrenched its taproots free of the ground and began to crawl towards them, propelling itself forward in a spider-like fashion. Large bulbs sprouted up out of the soil in the path of the oak's advance; these unfurled and released a noxious spray of green pollen.

"Run!" Baal cried, seizing Saiya's hand and dragging her away from the furious tree. They didn't stop until they were out sight of it entirely, and then they collapsed on the damp ground, breathing hard. Saiya's back was aching again, a dull but incessant throbbing.

"Thanks," panted Baal after a few moments. "You saved my life."

"Just paying you back from earlier, in the cave," she said. "You killed that cultist that was trying to drain my lifeforce."

"Well, I owed you already for distracting that behemoth in the catacombs before it could pound me to a pulp."

"Yeah, but if we consider the fact that you prevented me from falling off that cliff in the graveyard, and again a few days later when we fought Leoric – at great risk to your own safety, I might add – not to mention that possessed wolf that you shot as it was trying to tear my throat out, I think that the points are stacked a little heavily on your side."

"I haven't been keeping track," he said gallantly. "But I do want to thank you. A few more seconds and I'd have been a goner."

"Don't mention it," she replied. "Anyway, have you ever encountered anything like that before?"

Baal shook his head. "That was a new one for me. Remind me next time that if a particular place smells like demons, to pay attention to that detail and not sit down to have a snack."

"Yeah, I will. You're not hurt, are you?"

"Not really." He grimaced. "I'll have some bruises. You?"

"Oh, I'm fine. I am getting tired, though."

He stood and offered his hand to help her up. "Let's find a spot to camp for the night, then. Preferably somewhere without any large trees around."

They walked for another hour or so before finding a suitable place by the river, on a sandy spit of land sheltered by an overhanging bank. There was no dry wood anywhere in the vicinity, so a fire was out of the question. They dined rather unsatisfactorily on sandwiches again, and then Saiya laid out her bedroll and settled down to meditate. There was a lot she wanted to process: the senseless massacre of the caravan, Baal's quicksilver moods, the ominous implications of Maghda's interference.

When she came out of her deep calm, twilight was encroaching on the land, and Baal was already asleep, propped up against the embankment with his legs crossed in front of him and his arms lying limply in his lap. His eyebrows were twitching and every now and then he would make a small sound of distress. Saiya contemplated waking him, but resisted the urge. It wasn't as though he would confide in her, she thought dismally.

In spite of the soothing effects of the meditation, it was a while before she could get to sleep. When she did, her dreams were a tortured patchwork of disturbingly vivid and bizarrely unconnected visuals. The raped woman split apart at the seams and shed her skin to become Maghda; Rumford led his men into a lake of lava and swam like a fish as his hair and skin burned to ash; Baal lay naked, entangled in the arms of a woman whose face could not be seen.

Saiya woke as the sun was rising to find their camp deserted. She experienced a moment of panic until she noticed that Baal's pack was lying beside hers. Shaking off the remnants of sleep, she picked up her sweaty, mud-crusted outer robe and squatted by the riverside, washing out the garment. The rain had stopped during the night, though the sky was still overcast. Saiya hung her now-clean robe over a bush to dry and waded deeper, suppressing a gasp as the frigid water crept up her thighs. By the time it reached her stomach she was shivering uncontrollably, but she went deeper. When only her head and shoulders were above the surface, she filled her lungs with air and submerged.

The gentle current played with her hair and her skin gradually grew accustomed to the change in temperature. When her chest began to feel constricted she shoved off the riverbed and shot upwards, emerging in a shower of droplets. She swam upstream for a hundred yards or so, then flipped onto her back and floated back down. Finally she climbed back out onto the bank and – checking quickly to make sure that no one was around – stripped off her sopping wet underclothes, dried off with her blanket, and slipped her robe on.

The bandage on her fingertips had come off while she was bathing. She inspected the wounds; they were not serious, but the missing nails looked strange and unsightly. She applied some of the ointment that Brother Malachi had provided to stimulate faster healing, and snugly applied a clean bandage. Then she sat down to eat a slice of bread and wait for Baal to return.

She didn't notice two pairs of keen, dark eyes, watching her from the undergrowth on the other side of the river.


	15. 15 - Lyndon and Sasha

**Amor Vincit Omnia**

**(Love Conquers All)**

**Much much appreciation to all those who reviewed! Especially Neubia - I can't message you directly, but please know that I value your constructive criticism and astute comments. Hope you all enjoy chap 15! Also, a brief WARNING for violence, language, and some graphic descriptions of torture. That would be Baal's fault. **

Chapter Fifteen: Lyndon and Sasha

She didn't have to wait long. Within half an hour, there was a rustling in the bushes on the bank above their camp, and a lanky, dark form leaped down and landed in a puff of sand.

"Good morning, Saiya," he said jauntily.

"Morning, Baal," Saiya replied. "Find anything interesting?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I have. About half a mile up-river is a disused mill with a waterwheel. I thought it might be a good place to look around. But first, I have a favor to ask."

"What?"

"Will you cut my hair?"

Saiya blinked in surprise. It was then that she noticed a subtle difference in her friend's face: he had shaved off the stubble that had been darkening his jawline. Without the week-old scruff, he looked younger and more carefree – and quite handsome too, she thought – although she had to admit that she found the more rugged look rather appealing in its own way.

"Saiya?"

"Huh? Oh, right. Sure." She had been staring. Shaking her head (what was _wrong _with her this morning?) she said, "Do you have anything to do it with? Scissors, maybe?"

Baal presented her with a little curved knife, the blade of which was sharp as a razor. A few short black hairs clung to the handle, leading her to suspect that this was the same knife he had shaved with.

"How do you want it done?" she asked as he sat down on a rock with his back to her, shoulders back and chin lifted up.

"Just shortened all around, if you wouldn't mind," he said. "It's starting to get into my eyes."

Growing up at the temple, she'd had years of practice shaving the heads of the younger monks who had not yet gone naturally bald; and of course she maintained her own boyish hairstyle, which was not difficult, as it entailed nothing more challenging than making sure it was the same length all over. Baal's hair was a bit more complex. Parted on the right side and swept over, coming to an elegant point below his left ear, with a fringe falling down over the back of his neck. Take off too much, and she would ruin the shape of it. An inch would do, she decided, and set to work, measuring out the individual locks with her fingers and then carefully shearing them. By the time she was done, the ground was littered with hair clippings, and a good portion of them had fallen down the back of Baal's shirt.

"Is that what you wanted?" Saiya asked. Baal ran his fingers over the freshly cut ends, then got up and went down to the water's edge, crouching down to peer at his reflection, moving his head one way and then the other.

"That's perfect," he said. "Thanks, Saiya. I'm going to take a swim now to clean off, and then we can go."

"I'll just … pack up, then." She turned away as Baal began to strip down, tossing his clothes in an unceremonious pile. He splashed into the river, cursing inventively at the frigidity of it, and Saiya smiled as she curled up her bed roll and fastened it to the bottom of her pack.

Her underclothes were mostly dry by this time, and she pulled them on without removing her outer robe. It took some contortions, especially for the soft cloth band that went over her breasts, but eventually she was ready to set out. Baal was still in the water, however, so for lack of anything better to do she sat down to polish her brass knuckles. By the time they were gleaming to her satisfaction, he was making his way back to shore.

It wasn't until the water level had fallen below his waist that she realized he had removed _all _his clothing to bathe. She gasped and covered her eyes, feeling her face heat up as blood suffused her cheeks. That was the second time during their acquaintance that she had been unexpectedly exposed to his more manly qualities. She wondered if he was doing it on purpose, and what it might mean if he was.

"What's the matter, Saiya?" Baal snorted. "Nothing you haven't seen before, right?"

"That's not the point!" she exclaimed. "It's about decency and good manners."

"I always forget," he said, "how uptight you westerners are. Where I was born, people thought nothing of communal bathing, and no one bothered to cover up. And it was the same way when I joined the Hunters. Sorry if I've offended you."

"I'm not _offended_. And I'm _not _uptight! I just … it seems … kind of intimate, you know? I mean, what would _you_ think if I ran around naked?"

"Point taken," said Baal. "Alright, next time I'll warn you. You can look now, by the way, I'm dressed."

As they obliterated any remaining traces of their campsite and set off on the dirt road that led northward, Saiya mulled over the conversation. As with all her interactions with Baal, she felt compelled to study it until she had absorbed every ounce of potential information. She now knew that he had not been born into the order of the demon hunters, but that he had joined willingly at some point in his life. She understood as well that his shameless immodesty was not deliberate, but was a byproduct of the way he was raised, and just as much a habit for him as bathing in her undergarments was for her.

Unfortunately, she had also learned that the idea of seeing her nude was in no way thrilling for him, as was evidenced by the speed of his answer. That effectively crushed the last seedling of hope – planted by compliments and watered by familiarity and occasional tender moments – that their relationship might someday turn romantic.

_Ah well, _Saiya thought dismally, _it's probably for the best. I was apparently never cut out for love affairs. Once our work here is done and the people of New Tristram are safe, I'll return to the monastery and take my vows. _

"You're awfully quiet," Baal observed. Saiya jumped; she was so absorbed in her own unhappiness that she had almost forgotten he was there.

"I guess I just don't feel like talking," she said.

He frowned. "That's unusual. Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine," she said testily. "Surely you of all people can understand not wanting to have a conversation."

Baal held up his hands in mute surrender, and they walked on in silence. His eyebrows were creased and he looked vaguely troubled, but he respected her wish for solitude and did not try to speak to her again. Saiya began to feel a little guilty for snapping at him, but before she could apologize, there was shouting from up ahead and a man came running down the hillside at full speed. There was something strange about the way he moved, but Saiya didn't realize until he drew closer that his arms were bound behind his back.

The man skidded to a halt a few feet away from them. He was of medium height with a thin but wiry build, and nearer forty than thirty. His hair was dark and hung loose past his shoulders, swept back from a high forehead, and a thick mustache bristled over his thin lips. At the moment, he was sweating heavily and caked with dirt, and his eyes were wide.

"Are you warriors?" he gasped, glancing rapidly between the pair of them. "Please, I need your help. They're going to kill my friend!"

Saiya instantly went around behind him and started to untie the ropes which were chafing at his wrists. Baal said, "Who is 'they'?"

"A gang of roving bandits," the man said. "They've got her up at the mill and gods only know what they're going to do to her!"

"Is that why you're running away?" Baal asked dryly.

"I went to get help!" the man protested. "Look at me, do you think I'm fit for a fight right now? Please, if you won't help me I don't know _what _I'm going to do. Oh Gods, _Sasha_ …" His shoulders shook with ragged sobs.

"Of course we'll help you," Saiya said. "Take us there."

"Bless you, lady!" He fell to his knees and grabbed her hand, pressing it to his lips. His mustache tickled her skin, and she pulled her hand away as soon as she could without seeming rude.

"Never mind that, let's go save your friend," she said.

"Do you have a name?" Baal asked as they followed the man back up the hill.

"Lyndon," he replied. "And you, good sir?"

"I'm Baal," said the demon hunter, "and this is my companion, Saiya."

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, friends," Lyndon said. "I owe you both a great debt."

"You owe us nothing until the girl is saved," Baal pointed out, his tone dark. Saiya had a sudden flashback to the woman lying stripped and bloody in the rain, and felt a stir of nausea in her stomach. _The bandits wouldn't do _that_, would they? _she thought. _Surely humans, however criminal in nature, would have more honor. _

At the top of the hill an old stockade fence barred the way. The gate was parted open just far enough for a slender person to slip through. Baal held up his hand, signaling his companions to wait, and crept forward, putting his face to the gap. Not wanting to be left out, Saiya joined him, their bodies pressed closely together as they scoped out the territory. He didn't seem to notice, but she was acutely aware of the hard muscles in his arms and back, and gentle rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.

The yard, overgrown with weeds, was empty, but they could hear loud voices coming from the open window of the mill house.

"Face it, wench, he's left you cold," a man said roughly. "Now give it over, and we'll let you go unhurt."

"Never!" cried a woman. Her voice was shrill with fear. "Lyndon trusts me. I'll never betray him!"

"You stupid cow." There was a sound of someone being slapped, accompanied by an unmistakably feminine shriek.

"Come on, Baal, I think we've seen enough," Saiya whispered, tugging at his sleeve. He refused to budge. Inside the house, the woman began to wail.

"What the hell are you waiting for?" Lyndon hissed. "They're hurting her."

Baal put a hand on Saiya's shoulder, as much to hold her back as to offer comfort. Directing a penetrating stare at Lyndon, he said, "There's more going on here than you first told us. What are those men after?"

"Is that really important right now?" Lyndon demanded.

"It might be," Baal said. "Before I get involved in any situation, I like to know what I'm dealing with."

"Alright, fine! It's some relic that she has, a family heirloom or something, I don't know! She was bragging about it at a tavern up in Windlam a couple days ago, and when we got back here we found those sons of bitches waiting for us. Satisfied?"

"What is this relic?" Baal persisted.

Lyndon threw up his hands. "What, are you bandits too? Going to make me pay for your services? Fine, I'll reward you out of my own pocket, but can we get _on _with it?"

"I don't want your money," Baal said, still in the same slow, reasonable tone. "I'm interested in the relic."

Saiya was beginning to understand what he was thinking. "Could you just describe it to us?" she asked. "We're on a very important quest to find a certain item."

"Oh. I see." Her explanation seemed to have derailed Lyndon's anger. He frowned, smoothing his mustache repetitively. "Well, I'm not sure exactly what it's supposed to do, per se, but it looks like a circle with a X running through the center of it, and the metal is carved with vines with jewels as the flower petals. Very pretty." He gave them a questioning look.

"Never mind," they said in unison. Saiya added a polite, "Thank you."

"Right," Baal said, "here's the plan. Saiya, you'll circle around to the back of the house and enter there. I'll provide covering fire from the windows on this side. Lyndon, as soon as we get the bandits' attention, you get your friend away to safety. Okay?"

Saiya nodded and took off running through the long grass towards the house, bent double to avoid being spotted. There was a door on the far side, and she opened it as stealthily as she could, finding herself in the kitchen. The bandits were talking among themselves, apparently debating whether they should try torture or just search the premises, while their prisoner wept incessantly.

Saiya peered around the corner. There were nine of them, all strong, well-armed men in motley armor. To a man they were unkempt and stank of weeks' worth of filth and liquor. The woman they had come to save was in the corner, tied to a chair. To Saiya's immense relief, her dress was intact and she appeared to have only superficial injuries.

Now that she knew there was no emergency, she could afford to take a minute and plan out her battle strategy. Nine on one was rough odds, but if she were to use the bell in such an enclosed space, she and the captive both might be killed in the inevitable collapse of the structure. She decided that a better idea would be to throw out a blinding powder bomb and then take advantage of her opponents' temporary weakness to take down as many as she could, trusting in Baal to lend his assistance from the outside.

Easing two of the powder balls out of her pocket, she tossed them one at a time, arcing them so that they would land in the center of the group. As the bandits reeled, clutching at their eyes and cursing, she launched her attack, grabbing the nearest man by the back of his coat and pulling him down over her knee, slamming her knuckle-clad fist right between his eyes. He went limp, whether unconscious or dead she was not sure, and she dropped him and moved on to the next. It felt strange after nearly two weeks straight of fighting demons to go up against mere human foes (she didn't count the cultists, with their dark magic, as 'mere humans').

They were hardly a challenge. Their movements were slow and predictable; they had no claws or fangs or poison to augment their fighting capabilities; and above all they lacked the unquenchable lust for blood that drove even the weakest of demons to attack its prey. This battle was almost a peaceful affair – or would have been if Saiya's conscience hadn't been needling her unpleasantly with every blow. It was one thing to split a demon's skull open, but it was quite another when the brains spilling out belonged to another human, with his own thoughts and desires, hopes and dreams. She could get no satisfaction from ending a mortal life.

So she softened her blows and aimed to knock her opponents out rather than kill them. Out of the five men she fought, four of them were still breathing when the skirmish was over. The single fatality was the first man she had struck. Baal had not been as compassionate: all but one of the remaining bandits were dead of arrow wounds. The final man had been shot in the leg and shoulder, and was curled up nursing his wounds and swearing fluently between his groans of pain.

The front door crashed open and Lyndon ran in, with Baal on his heels. Lyndon went at once to the bound woman and freed her.

"Is it safe, Sasha?" he asked.

She fell into his arms and turned her tear-stained face up to him. Judging from the adoration in her eyes, she was quite smitten. "Yes, my love," she crooned. "I hid it, just like you asked, in the-"

"Yes, all right, you did very well, darling girl," he said, cutting her off. "Brave Sasha! You must have been so frightened. Did the bastards hurt you?"

"Not … not much," she said weakly, turning her head to one side so that the vivid bruise on her cheekbone was visible. She was an attractive girl, with thick waves of auburn hair and the complexion of a porcelain doll.

"Well, that's that then," Lyndon said, and leaned down to kiss her ardently. She gave a little squeal of surprise that quickly morphed into a low moan. Saiya turned away in embarrassment while Baal openly stared.

"What shall we do about these wretches?" she asked, her voice deliberately raised as she swept a hand around the prone forms of the bandits.

"Good question," Baal said. He crouched down by the man who'd taken two arrows and said, "You there, are you the leader of this ragtag crew?"

"Fuck off," the bandit grunted.

"I see that you've been wounded, friend," Baal said, ignoring the insult. "You've got to remove the bolt first, you know, before you can begin to heal. Here, let me help you with that." He gripped the shaft in the man's leg and gave a sharp tug. The bandit's face whitened and he made a gurgling sound.

"Yes, I'm the leader," he said after a minute. "Nigel's the name. The boy's call me Cutthroat, but I'm no murderer, sir, just a poor soul who's lost on the path of life."

"Really." Baal leaned in close, until their noses were nearly touching. "If there's one kind of person I can't stand, Nigel, it's a man who finds it acceptable to bully and threaten those weaker than him. That sort of scum-" He smiled, all sharp canines and eyes as cold as ice. "-deserves worse than death, in my opinion."

Nigel gulped. "Oh yes, sir, yes, I quite agree."

"I once knew a man," Baal continued, his tone as pleasantly conversational as if he were reminiscing with an old friend, "who beat his younger sister because she said something he didn't like. She was only sixteen at the time and half his size, but he broke three of her ribs, fractured her skull, and tore out most of her hair."

"Terrible," Nigel said. "What a bastard."

The grin dropped from Baal's face and his voice grew hard. "His friends found him three days later, hanging upside down by his feet from a tree on the roadside. He'd been stripped naked and his right hand was amputated and forced into his mouth, then tied there. He'd managed to avoid being suffocated … but only by gnawing on his own flesh. Poor Randin … he never recovered enough to tell anyone who had done that to him." He patted Nigel on the cheek and the man flinched away from his touch, eyes bugging out with terror and mouth aquiver.

"Baal," Saiya interrupted, unsure whether she was impressed or disturbed by his intimidation tactics. "Don't you think we should get going? What we're looking for isn't here, obviously."

He blinked, and some of the coldness melted from his eyes. Turning back to Nigel, he said, "Right, here's what you're going to do. Listen close. You and the rest of your pals who are lucky enough to be amongst the living, take your dead and burn them, then clear out of this part of the world. I promise you that if I ever see you again, I won't show mercy." He tweaked the arrow a final time to illustrate his point. Nigel nodded repeatedly.

"Thank you, sir, thank you!"

The demon hunter rose, putting his crossbow back in its holster on his back. He winked at Saiya, who couldn't help but smile back.

"Well, that's your little problem all taken care of," he said to Lyndon. "We'll be moving on now."

Lyndon stood up suddenly, releasing the woman, and she fell back onto the wooden chair with a bump. "Wait, wait! Could I perhaps persuade you to take me along?"

"Why?" Baal asked.

"Don't leave me, my love!" Sasha cried. She grabbed Lyndon's hand, giving him an imploring stare.

"It would only be temporary, darling girl," he said.

"But you promised me that we would marry!"

"Oh we will, my dumpling, we will. Before you know it we'll be settled down to a quiet life of tilling the fields and raising little brats … uh, children, I mean … but the farm won't buy itself, you know, dear. So let me go off with our friends here and sell that relic, and then I'll return with the gold and we can live in plenty-"

There was a sudden piercing cry from Nigel. "Ah! I knew it!" He struggled to his feet, glaring wildly, and pointed an accusing finger at Lyndon. "You fucking bastard! I ought to-"

He never finished his sentence. As he spoke, Lyndon had picked up a long-barreled crossbow that was propped against the wall in the corner. He took aim and calmly put a bolt through Nigel's heart. The bandit chief staggered back and fell over the body of one of his men.

"You'll regret this, Lyndon," he rasped through the blood filling his mouth. Then his head dropped back and his eyes glazed over. Lyndon lowered the crossbow, his face unemotional, and walked over to nudge the corpse with his toe. Apparently satisfied, he turned to face Baal and Saiya, who were watching warily. The demon hunter subtly shifted his position so that he was standing in front of Saiya, blocking the line of fire.

"Sorry about that," Lyndon said after a short pause. He shrugged, raising both hands. Baal's eyes tracked the position of the loaded crossbow he still held, though it was not currently threatening them.

"Care to explain?" he asked.

"I thought he meant to attack me," Lyndon said.

"He was unarmed."

"A man like him doesn't need a weapon to be dangerous. Besides, how do you know he didn't have a concealed knife?"

"How do you know he did?"

Lyndon sighed. "You're a sharp one. Alright, I'll be honest with you. I wasn't going to let him live anyway. He might be as docile as a lamb while you're around, but what's to stop him from coming back and murdering us in our sleep? I can't afford to have those kind of enemies." He delivered up a guileless smile. "So what do you say? Will you allow me to travel with you?"

"Saiya and I need to discuss it first," Baal said. "In private. Please excuse us." Making eye contact with Saiya, he jerked his head towards the door. They went outside, stopping a fair distance from the mill house.

"What do you think?" Baal asked.

Saiya considered carefully. At last she said, "I'm not sure. I definitely don't trust him, but at the same time my intuition tells me that he doesn't intend to harm us."

"He was lying about his reasons for killing Nigel," Baal said. "Not that I care that the man is dead, but I dislike working with dishonest people."

"I know how you feel, but fundamentally Lyndon's history with the bandits doesn't concern us. The only thing that matters is whether or not he'll betray _us_, and I think that we'll be safe as long as it's in his best interest to have us alive."

"Yes, I agree with you," Baal said. He thoughtfully rubbed his chin. "The question is, would it be to our advantage to team up with _him_?"

"Well, he's obviously no stranger to combat," she pointed out. "As far as that goes, he might prove useful."

"Mmm. I suppose you're right. Okay, we'll let him come with us."

As they walked back to the house, Saiya felt a spring of warm happiness bubbling up inside of her. Not only did her opinion have some swaying influence on Baal, but this time he had actually gone out of his way to consult her. She felt as if she had passed some sort of test for gaining his confidence. She suddenly felt very foolish for pining after what she would never have with him and overlooking what she had already – his trust and friendship – which was far more valuable.

Back inside the mill house, the men that Saiya had knocked unconscious were beginning to recover their senses. Baal gave them the same directions he had given Nigel, keeping one eye on Lyndon the whole while. The men, thoroughly cowed by their crushing defeat and the death of their leader, put up no resistance.

"We've decided to let you come with us," Baal told Lyndon as the bandits began to drag their fallen comrades out into the yard.

Lyndon's eyes lit up in what Saiya believed to be a genuine smile. "Then let us seek our fortunes together," he said.

Baal held up his hand. "If you double-cross us, I will make sure you regret it," he warned.

"I wouldn't dream of it, my suspicious new friend. Shall we go?" He set about gathering up some personal items that were scattered around the house, and fetching supplies from the kitchen.

Saiya looked over at Sasha. She was sitting in the same chair, following Lyndon's movements with despair in her eyes and her hands clenched in her lap. By contrast he seemed quite cheerful, whistling a merry tune as he packed.

"Hold on," Saiya said. The two men turned their attention to her. Pointing to the distraught woman, she asked, "What about her?"

Lyndon smiled tolerantly. "Oh, we've come to an agreement, haven't we, my peach?"

Sasha nodded and tried to smile, but she could not hide her misery.

"Well, I don't agree with leaving her here," Saiya said. "It's dangerous in these parts for a woman to be alone."

"It will be just as dangerous on the road," Lyndon said. "Be reasonable." He looked to Baal as if appealing for his assistance.

"I think Saiya has a good point," the demon hunter said. "You yourself expressed your concern that the bandits would seek revenge. She'll be safer with us, and I'm sure that you wouldn't want anything bad to happen to her."

Lyndon shot Saiya an exasperated scowl that clearly said, _Look what you've done. _Gritting his teeth, he turned to Sasha and said, "Well then, you'd better prepare to leave, my pet."

Within moments the woman was out of her chair and hugging Saiya tightly. "Thank you," she whispered, kissing her on the cheek.

"You're welcome," Saiya replied, a little shaken by the extravagant show of gratitude. She was less than pleased when Baal received similar treatment, although he looked as uncomfortable as she felt.

Sasha fluttered around the room like a nervous butterfly, stuffing clothes into a bag and then taking them out again, while Lyndon's booted foot tapped the floor in an increasingly aggressive rhythm. Eventually, however, she declared herself ready to go, and they stepped outside just as the bandits were setting light to the crude funeral pyre they had constructed.

Before they left the mill by the gate on the other side, Sasha stopped at the henhouse and rummaged around in the straw, emerging with a small package wrapped in canvas. Lyndon hastily confiscated it; Saiya assumed that it was the relic he had spoken about.

The weather was fair as they headed northwards as a decent pace. They were leaving the red fields behind and moving into a sparse woodland of copper-leafed oaks. Scattered between the trees were the crumbling remains of stone walls – evidence of a civilization that predated the current inhabitants of the region. Saiya wondered if perhaps the ancient folk were the ones who had constructed the deeper sections of the cathedral.

The little group walked on, enjoying the sunshine and the gentle wind. And back a ways on the road, well out of sight, two silent figures slipped from the cover of the trees and began to follow their trail.


	16. 16 - Temple of the Ancients

**Amor Vincit Omnia**

**(Love Conquers All)**

**WARNING: the F-word makes another appearance in this chapter. Hope y'all aren't offended! ;) Also, expect the sort of violence that accompanies combat. Also, I feel compelled to inform everyone that I changed some major Diablo lore pertaining to the Nephalem for the purposes of this story. Nothing that directly interferes with the plot - it's really more of a character-building choice - but I apologize in advance in case any die-hard fans are upset by the alterations. Enjoy the latest chapter, and as always reviews are read and re-read with much appreciation!  
**

Chapter Sixteen: Temple of the Ancients

They had not gone more than a few miles before Sasha began to complain that her feet were hurting. Lyndon was not sympathetic.

"Maybe you should not have worn those pretty little decorative boots, my delicate flower," he said.

"But I don't have any other shoes!" she protested. "Saiya, our feet are about the same size. Can I borrow your shoes, since you're not wearing them?"

"Sorry," Saiya said. "I don't have any."

The other woman was aghast. "What! You mean that you walk _barefoot _everywhere? How awful!"

"I've never worn shoes my entire life, so the soles of my feet have developed thick calluses," she explained.

Sasha shook her head. "Well, could we stop soon? We've been walking for _ages_, and my feet feel like they're on fire with every step."

Lyndon muttered something under his breath. Saiya, who was closest to him, heard it clearly: "I'll _set_ fire to your feet if you don't shut up."

"What's that, my love?" Sasha asked.

"Nothing, my dear."

"It's too early to make camp," Baal said, finally getting involved. "Let's keep going for now."

Sasha whimpered, and Lyndon shot her a withering look. Saiya sped up her pace until she was walking alongside Baal, who was in the lead. She angled her head so that the pair behind them would not be able to hear her words.

"Maybe we should call it a day," she whispered.

"It was your idea to bring her along, not mine," he replied.

"It would have been heartless to leave her behind," Saiya argued. "Besides, you sided with me on the issue."

"Only to present a united front to Lyndon. I wouldn't put it past him to try and drive a wedge between us if he can, and any dispute we have is a perfect opportunity for that. Men like him are skilled in the art of manipulation, Saiya, so be on your guard."

"Trust me, I will." She hesitated for a moment before deciding to ask him a question that had been bothering her since their encounter with the bandits. "Baal, that story you told Nigel about the man who beat his sister, and what happened to him because of it … was it true?"

"What do you think?" he asked, faint amusement strung through his tone.

"I think it was."

"Then you would be correct."

She wasn't sure which was more chilling, the knowledge that the story's brutality had been no exaggeration, or the smile on Baal's lips as he confirmed it. Unbidden, Rumford's words of warning echoed through her mind: _"I would caution you to steer clear of Baal. He is not evil, but such men as he may _attract_ evil, draw it to them like moths to flame, and that evil has a way of burning those around them."_

"Who was she?" Saiya asked.

"The first girl I ever cared for," Baal said. "Her brother was a Hunter as well, but she was too meek and soft-hearted to join the order."

Saiya forced away the twinge of jealousy that crept up in her chest. "What happened to her?"

Baal grimaced as if recalling a painful memory. "When Randin assaulted her, she came to me for help. She wanted me to leave the Hunters and run away with her, go someplace where he wouldn't find her. Instead I made sure that Randin would never hurt her again." He let out a bitter laugh. "When Rejina found out what I had done, she said that I was as violent as her brother and that she could never feel safe with me. That was the last time I saw her."

"I'm so sorry." Saiya could think of nothing else to say. She could not understand his pain, she who had never loved and had that love thrown back at her.

Baal shrugged. "It doesn't matter now. That was years ago, when I was still a child."

"Would you have left the Hunters if she had still wanted to go with you?" Saiya asked. She knew that she was treading a knife-edge line, prying so deeply into his past, but she had learned to take advantage of the moment when he was in a nostalgic mood.

"No," Baal said bluntly, "I wouldn't have. I am sworn to fight all demons, but there is one in particular that I must destroy, and until he is dead, there can be no peace for me."

Their conversation was interrupted by Lyndon hailing them. They looked around to see him waving wildly, having stopped about thirty paces back.

"There's a path over here," he called, "and I can see something through the trees. Looks like old ruins."

Saiya and Baal exchanged a glance and Saiya shrugged, indicating that the choice was up to her companion. He started to walk back towards the other two, and she followed.

The 'path' Lyndon had found was at first glance little more than a game trial, cloaked by underbrush, and Saiya was not surprised that they had passed it by without notice. But as Baal pushed aside the branches and stepped through, she realized that it had at one time been paved with stone and well-maintained, and that it had deteriorated through the years.

The path ended at a small courtyard, beyond which the ground fell away into a deep hollow with water pooled at the bottom. A set of crumbling steps led down to a walkway, with more stairs on either side, forming a sloped rectangle that descended right to edge of the lake. In the center stood a pavilion of impressive proportions, tilted to such a degree that it might at any moment succumb to gravity and sink into the murky water.

Baal stood on the lip of the hollow, arms crossed, and surveyed the view with narrowed eyes. When Saiya came up beside him, he said without looking at her, "This place smells of the stars. A piece of the sword fell here."

"Is it in the temple?"

"I think so."

"I feel a powerful life-force coming from the lake," she said. "We should take care with our exploration."

He nodded and turned to address Lyndon and Sasha. "You two stay up here for now and get a fire going. We'll be back soon." He started off down the steps without waiting for a response. Saiya hurried after him, pausing only to take off her pack and remove her brass knuckles in case they were needed. As they dropped out of sight she could hear Lyndon's sarcastic comment, "Oh, wonderful! Shall I cook dinner for your royal highnesses as well? Perhaps get a hot bath ready for your return? _Anything_ to please _you, _just name it!"

Upon reached the waterline, they realized that there was neither bridge nor boat, so it seemed that unless they fancied a swim through algae-ridden water of uncertain depth, there would be no further discovery.

"There must be some way across," Baal growled, pacing the edge in his frustration. He kicked a loose stone off into the lake, and it fell with a plop through the green film on the surface and sank out of sight.

"We could try to build a raft," Saiya suggested.

"That would take too much time. We-" He stopped short and turned his head from side to side, sniffing at the air. Then, eyes focused on a particular point in the stone wall, he said, "Come out. I know you're there."

To Saiya's amazement, a man emerged from the blank rock, moving as though he passed through a curtain. He was obviously a spirit, but his form was unusually corporeal, his features clearly defined, and he was not as transparent as some specters. His outline flickered with blue flame, not unlike that which had animated the corpse of Leoric, but Saiya sensed no ill intent from him, merely curiosity, and a certain guardedness.

"Are you … Nephalem?" he asked, and his voice was like the slow drip of water onto mossy rock.

Baal frowned. "Why do you ask?"

"You seek entrance … to the temple?"

"Yes."

"I am Alaric … the guardian. Only a Nephalem may enter."

"We are not Nephalem," Baal said. "They died out over a millennium ago."

"That … is a myth," said the spirit. "If the truth you seek, follow the sun … and return here with the temple keys. Then we shall see … who you really are."

"We are in a hurry," Baal argued. "The fate of an entire village depends on how quickly we complete our errand. Can't you just open the path for us?"

"No," said Alaric, with finality. "Two keys there are … without them, the gates stay shut."

"Well, how far away are they?"

"Not far," answered the guardian. There was no variation in the monotonous tone of his voice, and his face remained unchanged, but Saiya got the impression that he was secretly laughing at them.

"Well then," said Baal, "I guess we have no choice. Let's get going, Saiya."

She gave him a startled look. "What, right now? But what about Sasha? I don't think she can travel much further today."

"Don't worry, I've already thought of that," he said. "I'm going to ask Lyndon to stay here with her, in case Maghda finds this place before we can return."

"I don't think he'll like that," Saiya warned.

"Too bad for him." Baal turned to Alaric. "We'll be back with the keys. Don't go anywhere."

The guardian smiled. "I will wait."

As Saiya had predicted, Lyndon was not at all happy with the arrangement – primarily because he appeared to be under the impression that they were after some treasure, and he wanted his share of the spoils. Once they convinced him that the treasure (if there was any at all) would be right where they currently were, and that they were only after the keys, he became much more agreeable.

"Alright, I'll stay here and keep an eye out for your cultists," he said. "But if you're not back in two days, I'm moving on."

"Fine," Baal said. "Thank you, Lyndon. If you do encounter Maghda or her followers, take care. They are extremely dangerous."

"So am I." Lyndon grinned, showing his teeth in a way that reminded Saiya of Baal. She hid a smile herself, thinking that maybe the two were more similar than they knew.

While the men were talking terms, she had persuaded Sasha to remove her boots so her feet could get some air. The soft white flesh on the soles was swollen and angry, and there were nasty blisters on the heels and under the toes. At the sight of them Sasha whimpered and turned her head away.

"I'm going to have to drain these so I can dress them properly," Saiya told her, and went to borrow the items that she needed from Baal's pack. Using one of his knives, she carefully lacerated the blisters and removed the flaps of skin that remained. Then she disinfected the wounds by dribbling a thin stream of brandy over them, ignoring Sasha's hiss of pain, and smeared on some of Brother Malachi's ointment, wrapping each foot in a clean bandage.

"You should stay off of them as much as possible until they heal," she advised. "So no running around, okay? Let Lyndon wait on you for a change."

The other woman blushed and glanced sideways at her inattentive lover. It was evident that she was slow to notice what Saiya had already concluded: that any interest Lyndon had in her was purely financial, and that he had no intention of marrying her once the money for the relic was in his possession. Comparing Sasha's situation to her own, she realized how lucky she really was, to have the friendship and loyalty of the man she cared for. No doubt Lyndon had taken advantage of the physical benefits of his romantic façade, which would make it all the more painful for the girl when he finally revealed his true nature. At least Baal had been honest with her from the start.

She made eye contact with him across the courtyard, where he was rearranging his pack in preparation for the next phase of their journey. He raised his eyebrows, asking a silent question. She nodded in response and walking briskly across the open space to join him.

"We'll see you soon," she said to Lyndon.

"Good luck," he replied, "and take care." His words had the ring of sincerity, unlike his usual calculated manner of speech. Not for the first time, she wondered what he had to gain from their partnership, and whether he would end up betraying them. She hoped not; in spite of his faults she wanted to like him.

Saiya's began to feel the first pangs of hunger as they stepped out of the forest and onto the north-bound road. Wishing that she had insisted on a lunch break before they resumed their quest, she called a quick halt and dug up some bread and jerky to take the edge off the growing ache in her stomach.

"How are you feeling?" Baal asked as she straightened up and slipped her rucksack on again.

"Alright," she said. "A little tired."

He expression spoke of guilt. "I had forgotten that you're still in recovery. You know, I can find the keys on my own. You don't have to come along."

"I appreciate your concern," she said, "but I'm fine, really. I'd feel terrible if you got yourself killed without me."

"So you're okay with me dying as long as you're around to see it, is that right?" he quipped. Saiya smacked him lightly with the back of her hand.

"What did Alaric mean when he asked if we were Nephalem?" she asked, trying to steer his attention away from her wellbeing. "What are Nephalem?"

"I'm surprised you don't know," Baal said.

"My education at the monastery was focused more on the self – physical and mental discipline and so forth – than on the outside world. I'm afraid that I'm rather ignorant about a lot of things."

"_Child_," he teased gently, and dodged her fist when she moved to smack him.

"Well, why doesn't the 'great master' teach me the ways of life, then?" she said. "Instead of lording over me."

"But it's so much _fun_ to lord over you," he chuckled. "Although I suppose that teaching might be entertaining as well." His voice dropped a few octaves on the last statement, and the provocative rasp in his tone sent a shiver right up her spine. She flushed and looked elsewhere before she could give away her true feelings, reminding herself that any impure implication in his words was most likely just her own wishful imagination.

"So," Baal continued, his voice mercifully returning to its normal pitch, "to answer your question, a Nephalem is the child that results when an angel of the High Heavens mates with a human being. Such unions are frowned upon by the Angiris Council as being 'unholy', and so Nephalem as quite rare as a consequence. The last recorded one died over a thousand years ago."

"But if only a Nephalem can enter the temple, then all of our efforts will be wasted," Saiya said in dismay.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Baal said. "Alaric seemed to think that we would learn something interesting if we were to bring back the keys."

"You're not suggesting that _we _might be Nephalem, are you?"

"You never knew your parents," he pointed out. "How do you know that one of them wasn't an angel?"

Her mouth dropped open. "That's … that's … preposterous! I'm not special, I don't have any extraordinary power-"

"I'd call being able to summon a heavenly bell pretty damn extraordinary," said Baal.

"-and anyway, don't you think I'd _know _if I was half-angel?"

"It would explain why you were abandoned at the monastery as an infant. They could hardly raise a Nephalem child up in the Heavens, and perhaps it would have been too difficult for the human to parent to manage alone-"

"Enough!" Saiya snapped, causing him to abruptly fall silent. Her hands were shaking, and her heart was pounding out of control. She wasn't sure exactly what about the theory disturbed her so much, but she didn't want to hear any more about it.

"I'm sorry," Baal said. "I didn't think- Saiya, are you all right? You're trembling."

He reached out to her, but she flinched away. "I'm not a Nephalem, Baal. I'm not!"

"There's nothing wrong with it-"

"I said I'm not one!"

He held up both hands in a gesture of surrender. "All right, I hear you. I'm sorry, Saiya, forget I said anything."

"You don't have any right to speculate about my parents!" she exclaimed, tears spilling down her cheeks. To her mortification, she could not seem to control her words. They came tumbling out, tangled and vitriolic, punctuated by harsh gasps for breath. "All my life I've wondered if they really loved me, if they wanted me at all, or if I was just an inconvenience to be gotten rid of and gods help me, but sometimes I _hate _them for leaving me behind, for never coming back to see if I was doing well. I was happy in the monastery, but I would have given all that security up if it meant a chance to know my real parents, and now you come along and say that I'm not even _human, _that I'm just some half-child abomination, and it _isn't fair_!" The last two words were a full-throated scream, releasing a lifetime's worth of pain and insecurity.

Baal had not moved during her outpouring of emotion. When she finished he took a handkerchief out of his pocket and offered it to her. With a mumbled, "Thanks," she took it and dabbed the wetness from her cheeks and blew her stuffed-up nose. She went to hand it back to him, thought better of it, and stuffed it in her belt. Then, taking a deep breath, she looked up into his impassive eyes and said, "I'm really sorry, I have no idea where that came from. I thought that I made my peace with that years ago."

"Deep wounds like that never really heal, they only scar over," Baal said.

Saiya shrugged. "Maybe so, but I never should have yelled at you like that. I don't know what came over me."

"I was being insensitive," he said.

"No, there's no excuse!"

"Then I forgive you."

Those four simple words were anodyne to her aching heart. She choked, sniffed, and managed a watery smile. Baal returned it, lifting a finger to catch a stray tear beading on her eyelashes. He brought it to his lips and let it fall onto the tip of his tongue.

"Mmm. Salty."

Saiya could not help but laugh. "What did you expect?"

"It's something my mother used to do," he explained. "Or she'd tell me to keep going, that pretty soon we would have enough for a pot of soup."

"Whenever I cried, the head monk would put me on his shoulders and run around the temple grounds," Saiya said. "At least until I got too big. Then he threatened to make me carry him." She sighed, torn between fond memories of the past, and the recent grief at her beloved father-figure's parting that had tainted all her recollections of home. "Master would be so ashamed of me right now. He always told me that I should try to forgive my parents for the wrong they had done to me. I thought I had."

"I'm sorry, Saiya," Baal said for the third time since the beginning of her outburst. "It was very rude of me to talk about your family like that. You've always been so considerate of my feelings, but I failed to show you the same respect. Can you forgive me?"

"If you'll forgive me for yelling at you for something that wasn't your fault," she said.

"Of course."

"Good." Driven by the need for comforting contact, she held out her hand. Baal took it, running his thumb over the back, tracing the veins that coursed blue under the pale skin, circling the peaks of her knuckles. He found a scar on the most prominent one, a remnant of her training days. His caress seemed almost automatic, and his gaze was unfocused, as though his mind was absent.

"Shall we keep going?" Saiya asked.

"Yeah," he replied, but to her surprise and delight, he didn't let go of her. They walked for a while in silence, hands loosely clasped. His palm was cool and dry against hers, but she could feel the steady throb of his heartbeat.

"Baal?" she murmured after a long stretch of time had passed by without conversation. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"I might not answer, but ask anyway," he said.

"You seem so sure that I am a Nephalem, but what if Alaric was referring to you instead?"

"Not possible," he said. Then, so quietly she had to strain to hear, "Both of my parents were human."

The use of past tense did not escape her. They were dead, then. With a wave of empathy, she thought, _No wonder he doesn't want to talk about his family. _

"I see," she said, and did not press any further. If ever he wanted to divulge details, she would lend a listening ear, but until then she would stifle her curiosity – although she couldn't help but wonder if the tragedy in his early life was linked to his decision to join the Hunters.

It was around this time that the forest began to darken around them, though dusk was still a few hours off. The shiny copper of the oak leaves changed to a dull gray-green, and soft moss underfoot was supplanted by wiry, sharp-edged grass. The ground became muddy and an unpleasant odor hung in the air.

"This is a friendly atmosphere," Baal remarked. Several crows in a nearby tree startled into flight at the sound of his voice.

"Yes," Saiya said, "let's hope we don't encounter the locals."

The further they went, the more indistinct the path became, eroded by tree roots and in places vanishing completely into the marsh. Saiya was not aware of precisely when they lost their way, but eventually she looked around her and realized that she had no idea which direction they should go to get back on the solid road.

"Do you know where we are?" she asked her companion.

"Your guess is as good as mine," he said, shrugging.

Saiya was about to berate him for his irresponsibility in leading them astray when she spotted an interesting structure through the trees up ahead. It looked like a natural dais, with stairs leading up to a platform ringed by free-standing pillars.

"What do you think of that?" she said, pointing.

"It looks to me like an altar that might be used for worship or sacrifice," Baal replied.

"Should we take a closer look?"

They advanced slowly, stepping with care to mask the noise of their passage. At the base of the dais, despite her caution, Saiya heard a sharp snap and looked down to find that she had trodden on a white stick that lay hidden in the grass.

Then she looked again and a chill struck her. It was no stick, but a human femur, picked clean by the insects long ago.

"Baal, look!" she hissed. The demon hunter crouched down and unearthed a complete skull from the soggy soil. He looked at it for a moment, turning it in his hands, and then put it back where he had found it.

"We need fear nothing from these bones," he said. "They are too old to be possessed. But the spirits themselves might linger, if they could find no rest."

"I wonder how they died," Saiya mused. Looking around, she spotted more bones – hundreds of them, probably enough for half-a-dozen full skeletons.

"There's only one way to find out," Baal said grimly. Drawing his crossbows, he started to climb the dais. Saiya followed him, searching out clear spots to place her feet.

At the peak, nestled between the pillars, was a large gravestone carved in a hieroglyphic script. Baal's face reflected awe as he examined it.

"This is runic text," he said. "No one has used this for centuries."

"Can you read it?" Saiya asked.

"Bits and pieces. It's related to the Incaentic Tongue spoken by demons, so named because legend claims that any human who tries to use it will have the tongue burnt from their mouth. In any case, Incaentic was a mandatory part of my studies as a Hunter. This stone, as far as I can tell, reads: _"Hereunder lies Xanax Lord of the Ghouls who was slain and- _what's that? Oh- _entombed … on the eighth day after the snow fell in the Year of the Broken Blade … and his soldiers, put to rest, his crypt eternally shall guard. _Uh oh, that doesn't sound good. Maybe we should go."

The words were hardly out of his mouth when there was a rustling in the undergrowth from all directions and a hoard of squat greenish figures swarmed out of the forest and rushed toward the dais. Their arms were abnormally long, while their legs were stubby, leading to a hunched appearance and four-legged gait. They clutched short, saw-like blades in their hands, and their black eyes glittered malevolently. They jabbered to each other as they loped along. In the wake of the pack was a taller form in gilded ceremonial armor who seemed to be issuing orders.

"Ghouls!" Baal declared. "And Xanax himself in the lead, if I'm not mistaken. I must say, he doesn't look very entombed to me. Those ancient folks really should have dug deeper graves."

"What should we do?" Saiya asked, trying to keep the panic she felt from showing in her voice. "There are too many of them!"

"Well," said Baal, "I think this would be a good time to run."

They spun in unison, planning to flee down the other side of the dais, but before they took three steps walls of solid stone erupted from the earth and blocked their path. Turning back, they saw that they had been enclosed in a narrow corridor, with the open end facing the teeming mass of ghouls.

"Fucking hell!" Baal snarled. "I didn't figure he'd have _this _kind of magic. Quick, Saiya, I'll boost you up." He laced his hands together, holding them at knee-height on the wall to form a step.

"But what about you?" she cried.

"I'll stall them, just get out of here!"

She vehemently shook her head. "No, I'm not leaving you!"

"This is not the time for heroics-"

"Look who's talking!" she snapped. "You want me to run away like a coward and abandon you to your death. Well, I won't! You're my friend, Baal – the only real one I've got – and if we go, then we go together, fighting all the way!"

He glared at her for a moment. Then, abruptly, he broke into a fierce grin, showing off his sharp canines.

"I knew I could count on you," he said, and there was no more time for speech. The first wave of ghouls crested the summit and fell instantly under a barrage of bolts. Baal held nothing back; their foes were clustered so thickly that he didn't even have to line up shots. Every arrow found a mark.

Saiya could not move forward in the tight space between the walls, lest she block his line of fire, but she was not idle either. She took the remaining bombs from Baal's belt pouches and lit them up, lobbing them into the crowd with devastating effect. When his quiver ran dry and he stopped to reload, she took his place and beat back the encroaching flood of lean, mud-covered bodies. A stray blow from one of the saw-toothed swords ripped through the sleeve of her robe and bit into her arm, and another scraped down the outside of her thigh, removed some skin but doing little actual harm.

"Duck!" Baal shouted, and she dove to the ground, listening to the hum of rapid-fire bolts passing overhead. The pile of corpses was growing to the point where fresh arrivals had to clamber over the fallen to reach the two beleaguered humans on the other side, but not even the mounting deaths of their kindred seemed to deter the bloodthirsty creatures. In the background Saiya could hear Xanax shrieking instructions that she didn't need a translator to understand.

Their inevitable doom was announced by a firm _click _that caught her ear even over the raucous battle. Baal's crossbows were depleted. They were down to fists and knives. By Saiya's estimate, nearly two score of their enemies had been vanquished, yet the stream of ghouls continued unabated.

The leading ones reached Saiya's head, raised their machetes to hack at her, and collapsed, each one with a knife in its throat or forehead. Baal seized her by the ankles and dragged her back away from the swarm. She struggled to her feet, dropping into a fighting crouch, and he mirrored her with a dagger in either hand.

Then, just as they were about to be overwhelmed, there was a blast of light and a cackling laugh, and when Saiya's vision cleared a flock of plump white chickens were running around their feet, clucking frenziedly. She looked up to see Ghor perched on top of the stone wall behind them.

Caesar materialized in the heart of the army, and with a flourish of his wand, the ghouls near him froze where they stood, encased in ice. He flicked his wrist and invisible blades sliced the air and neatly dismembered his trapped foes.

Within minutes all the ghouls were dead, some of them killed by the fast-acting poison in Ghor's blowdarts, others slashed to pieces by Caesar's blades or blasted by lightning from his wand. Xanax suffered the most horrifying fate of all: as he was fleeing into the forest, the umbaru woman called forth two demonic hounds from a portal in the earth to pursue him. Saiya turned her head away and covered her ears, but she could not block out the sounds of rending flesh and splintering bone. Afterwards the hideous beasts crawled about their master's feet, whining ingratiatingly. She reached down and stroked one along its hairless spine.

Caesar approached them, stepping fastidiously over the ghoul carcasses that littered the ground. The wizard removed his pointed hat with a flourish and smiled, though his eyes were bright and cold.

"Well," he said. "We meet again."


	17. 17 - Light the Beacons

**Amor Vincit Omnia**

**(Love Conquers All)**

**I'm very sorry for the long wait between this chapter and the last. I hope that the length of this installment (over 7000 words) will excuse it. My sincere appreciation to everyone who has reviewed! Hope you're all continuing to enjoy the story :) **

Chapter Seventeen: Light the Beacons

"What a pleasant surprise," said Baal. The expression on his face was anything but friendly as he leveled a flat stare at their unexpected saviors. Saiya jabbed him in the ribs, hoping that he would take the hint and not make things more difficult than they had to be.

"What Baal means is, 'thanks for rescuing us'," she said.

"You'd already done most of the work," the wizard replied graciously. "We just picked up the pieces."

"All the same, it was lucky for us that you came along when you did."

"Yeah," Baal said, "quite the coincidence, eh?"

"Actually, we've been following you since early this morning," Caesar replied evenly. "But I suggest that we discuss this later. The lady is in need of healing."

Saiya turned confusedly at Ghor before realizing that the 'lady' in question was in fact herself. She looked down and saw that her robe was torn in several places, and the flesh beneath laid open in ugly, jagged wounds. She felt relatively little pain, but the blood was flowing a little too freely for her liking.

"I'll teleport you back to New Tristram," Caesar offered, extending a gloved hand. Saiya shook her head.

"That's kind of you, but I'll be all right. I've got medical supplies in my pack." She sat down on the grass in front of the ancient gravestone and took out bandages, salve, and her water jug. Then she started to roll up her left sleeve to get to the cut on her bicep, which appeared to be the deepest.

Before she got the fabric above her elbow Baal was kneeling in front of her.

"I'll do that," he said. She opened her mouth to protest, then thought better of it and surrendered to his ministrations. His hands were warm on her chilled skin, his touch firm but gentle. He poured a thin stream of water over the gash until it ran clear, smeared on a generous amount of salve, and bound it up. A nick on the side of her right hand, just below the guard of her brass knuckles, received the same treatment.

Then he turned his attention to the scrape on her leg, and Saiya had to fight to keep a blush from staining her cheeks as he pushed her robe up to her hips and peeled back the skin-tight shorts she wore underneath. She fidgeted, digging her toes into the dirt, as he worked efficiently, touching her only as much as was necessary. There was nothing sexual or even particularly intimate about the contact, but the mere fact that his fingers were positioned less than a foot away from her crotch was both uncomfortable and thrilling.

Too soon he was finished, rising smoothly and giving her an appraising glance over. "How is that?" he asked.

Saiya stood up, taking an experimental step forward. The wound throbbed slightly, but it would not hinder her movement.

"Great, thanks," she said. "I hardly feel a thing."

Baal turned to face Caesar. "Weeell," he said, prolonging the word in the semblance of a lazy drawl, "thanks much for your assistance in solving our little ghoul problem, but we should be on our way. See you around. Come along, Saiya."

He started off towards the dais stairs, but Saiya grabbed a fistful of his cloak, halting him in his tracks. He made a strangled sound as the material tightened on his throat.

"Oh no, you don't," she said. "I've had about enough of 'come along, Saiya', as if I was your dog or something. I feel like resting for a minute, so sit down."

Caesar chuckled but had the wisdom to turn it into a cough as Baal's incinerating glare swept over him to land on Saiya. She met his gaze coolly, refusing to back down. After a minute he sat down, arms crossed and lips creased in a rather childish pout.

"That's better," Saiya said. "Caesar, Ghor – it's nice to see you both."

"The pleasure is all mine," the wizard said, and Ghor bowed her head in agreement. Baal's scowl deepened.

"If you don't mind my asking, what brings you to this area?"

"Same thing that brings you, I expect. Searching out leads on Maghda."

"You know about Maghda?" Saiya exclaimed.

"More than that," said Caesar. "I know where to find her."

Baal, who had been staring off into space, suddenly sat up straight. "Where?" he demanded.

"Do you really expect me to tell _you _that?" sneered the wizard.

"If you don't want me to stick you to the nearest tree like a beetle on a pin and leave you for the buzzards."

Caesar raised his wand. "Just try it."

"That's enough, guys," Saiya broke in, directing a pleading glance from one man to the other. "Can't you see that what's going on here is more important than your petty rivalry? People are going to keep dying until we kill Maghda and put an end to this demonic curse. Now, I'm not suggesting that we form an alliance – not after what happened last time we tried to work together – but _please_, can't we agree to pool our information and then go our separate ways?"

Caesar tilted his head to one side, his grey eyes appraising. "So we give you the witch's location, and in return …?"

"We tell you what she came here for." It was a gamble on her part, but she reasoned that if the other two already possessed that information, they would have no need to be following her and Baal.

"Interesting," the wizard said. He looked to Ghor, who showed no response, either favorable or negative.

"All right," he said. "Maghda is holed up in King Leoric's old hunting lodge, in the Tamoe Highlands. Getting to her will not be easy; that's goatmen territory. There are darker rumors as well – people say that the cultists control a greater demon, possibly even one of Hell's lieutenants."

"Which one?" Baal asked, animosity temporarily forgotten in his dark excitement. "Do you know?"

Caesar shook his head. "They called him 'the Butcher'."

"Helpful."

"Look," said the wizard, "I've fulfilled my end of the bargain, so now it's your turn. What is Maghda after?"

As succinctly as she could, Saiya told him about the discovery of Najmah at the bottom of the cathedral, and about finding the sword piece in the goatmen's cave. She concluded with their journey northwards, and of meeting Alaric at the ancient temple, keeping nothing back save the allusion to Nephalem, which she deemed unimportant. When she was finished, Caesar said, "I see. Well, obviously the man from the star and his sword have some greater part to play in this drama. Ghor and I will aid you in your search for the other pieces."

"That won't be necessary," said Baal.

"Don't be a fool. You admit that time is of the essence. You and Saiya know the whereabouts of one shard; we will seek the other. With my ability to teleport, I can cover a much larger range of the countryside than you can, on foot. Such an arrangement will be to our mutual advantage."

Sensing that Baal's pride would not let him concede the truth of this statement, Saiya said, "That sounds good to me, Caesar. If you and Ghor are successful in locating the third piece, bring it back to New Tristram and give it to Deckard Cain. He'll know what to do with it."

"Very well. Before we leave, may I have a moment of your time? There's something I want to ask you."

Curious, she gestured for him to go ahead. But he only smiled and said, "Privately, if you don't mind."

Out of the corner of her eye, Saiya saw Baal stiffen, his expression growing wooden. It was the look of a man who sees disaster looming on the horizon and can do nothing but brace himself for it. She was a little puzzled by the request – what could the wizard possibly have to say that would merit that degree of discretion? – but she didn't understand the doomed look on her friend's face. What was he so afraid of?

With some effort, Saiya got to her feet, wincing as she rested her weight on her injured leg. Caesar politely offered his arm for her to lean on, but she declined, walking ahead of him down the dais stairs and far enough into the forest that they were beyond the range of hearing, but not out of sight.

"What is it?" she asked.

Caesar cleared his throat. "I would like you to know that should you wish to come with us, Ghor and I would welcome your company on the road."

Whatever Saiya had been expecting, that was not it. She stared dumbly at him for a few seconds before asking, "What about Baal?"

"I'm sure you'll understand if I say that I'd rather have nothing to do with him, but I have no objection to _you._"

She sighed deeply. "I do understand, but I wish that you two could find some way to work out your problems. You've gotten the wrong impression of Baal, and I think that he's gotten the wrong impression of you. I feel like the four of us could be a really solid team if only you weren't at each other's throats all the time."

"It's his issue, not mine," the wizard said with a shrug. "Pardon me for asking, but exactly what do you see in him anyway? He's stubborn, rude, untrustworthy, and apparently capable of holding grudges indefinitely. Hardly a man worthy of your beauty and charm."

"Okay," Saiya growled, "I thought I made it clear back at the inn that I wasn't interested in you that way. I have no inclination to be a knot in your string of lovers, and I find it insulting that you'd suggest such a thing when you're already with a woman."

"What?" he exclaimed, looking surprised. "Oh, Ghor isn't my lover. We're just traveling companions."

"Well, so are Baal and I."

His eyes widened even further, then lidded over in a smile that reminded Saiya of a cat whose prey has bumbled right into its paws.

"Then what's the problem?" he asked. And before Saiya had figured out what he meant, he cupped her cheek in one hands and leaned forward to press his lips to hers. She twitched away at the last second and his kiss landed awkwardly on the corner of her mouth. Caesar let his hand drop and took a step back, frowning at her. His expression wasn't angry so much as perplexed.

"It wasn't my intention to make you uncomfortable," he said.

"No, that's not … it's okay … I mean … I don't know what I mean," Saiya replied, floundering for the right words. "I was just … really surprised."

"I don't know why. You're a beautiful and courageous woman. Any man would be lucky to have you."

Saiya was beginning to feel slightly stunned, as if she had been struck on the head. The more rational part of her brain was busy making a prioritized list, on which _'get away from Caesar' _was number one. Just after that was _'meditate for a long, long time, and sort this whole mess out'. _

"I'll be honest," she said, steeling herself to look him in the eye. "The reason I'm so nervous right now is that this is all a new experience for me. I'd like a little time to think about what I want."

The wizard bowed his head respectfully. "Of course," he said. "Shall we rejoin the others?"

Relieved, she nodded. "Yes, I think that would be a good idea."

Her mind was teeming with conflicting thoughts and emotions as they walked back up the stairs to the top of the dais. The whole conversation had taken no longer than five minutes, but it seemed like an age had passed. Baal gave her a hard, suspicious look, and she avoided his gaze, wondering if her inner struggle was written on her face.

"We'll be off, then," Caesar said, holding a hand out to Ghor. She took it, and the wizard began to cast his teleportation spell. As the edges of his outline began to blur, he winked at Saiya and said, "My offer still stands – both of them." Then they were gone, and Baal and Saiya were alone on the dais again.

"What did he want?" Baal asked at once.

Saiya debated for a moment whether to tell him everything. She decided against it. "He invited me to go with him. I declined, obviously."

Baal grunted. "Bastard."

"You know, he's actually a decent person, as you would know if you bothered to take the time to get to know him."

"Like you have?" His tone was snide.

"At least I've tried."

"Why would you _want _to? I've never met a more arrogant ass … not to mention deceitful, discourteous, and generally obnoxious."

"That's almost exactly what he said about you," remarked Saiya, "except that he substituted stubborn for arrogant."

Baal looked affronted. "I am notdeceitful."

"Sorry to break it to you, but putting sleeping potion in the drink of someone you've agreed to work with is the very _definition _of deceitful. Face it, Baal, you and Caesar are more alike than either of you know." _Except in one regard, _she added silently. _He apparently finds me attractive. Why couldn't it be you? _

"I don't want to hear any more about that _jrd kanith_,"* Baal snapped. Saiya had no idea what he had just called the mage, but she knew it couldn't be a compliment. Shrugging her shoulders, she said, "Fine. You're the one who asked. Anyway, it will be dark in an hour or so. We should find a place to camp for the night."

Baal nodded curtly and strode away without another word. Saiya limped after him, noting the tension in his shoulders and the way his hands were clenched at his sides. In retrospect, she thought that perhaps comparing him to his rival was not the most tactful line to take, but she was too worn out to care if she had damaged his fragile ego. Two days of hard marching, several battles, a few wounds, and near constant bickering with Baal had left her exhausted physically and mentally.

Happily, they did not have to go much further before they found a suitable spot to spend the night. It was a small island in the middle of the marsh, thickly vegetated, with a good view of the surrounding forest. Saiya stayed on her feet long enough to set the protective mantras, and then unrolled her mat and sank down onto it with a grateful sigh. With the last of her clean water she damped a cloth and scrubbed the worst of the crusted mud from her feet, which were chapped and tender.

"Get a fire started," Baal ordered. "I'm going to get us something decent to eat." He checked the ammunition in his quiver, which he had evidently refilled while Saiya was having her tête-à-tête with the wizard. His supply of arrows had noticeably decreased.

"Don't be gone long!" Saiya called after him as he splashed his way through the shallow, muddy water around the island. He waved without looking back.

There was not much deadwood to be found among the thorny bushes and lichen-covered trees, but she eventually scraped together enough for a decent blaze. Then, satisfied that she was safe from any attack within the shields, she sat down on her bedroll: crossing her legs, straightening her spine, and resting her hands palm up on her knees in her favorite meditative pose. She closed her eyes, entering the space of nothingness, throwing out her awareness in a wide circle while she herself ceased to exist as a person and became the hub of a vast ecosystem.

Saiya became aware almost instantly that the forest and all the creatures living in it were diseased, and marveled that she had not felt it earlier. The water was tainted, and the trees and grass soaked up that foul sludge and were sickened as well. No wonder the leaves were a dull gray instead of the verdant green they should be. The animals that drank from the marsh pools were mangy and malnourished. It was as if some evil force was draining the energy out of everything in the wood.

Nauseated, she retreated back into her own body, feeling as filthy as if she had been rolling around in the swamp. To purify her psyche she did some breathing exercises, filling her lungs with a fiery wind from the heavens and expelling it out, leaving her inner self burned clean.

At last she felt ready to confront the confusion that had been troubling her ever since her almost-kiss with Caesar. Her mind replayed the moment: the feather-light touch of his lips, surprisingly soft against her cheek, the warmth of his breath, the sparkle in his pale grey eyes. She wondered what it would have been like if she had not turned her head, if she'd let him kiss her like he'd intended to. Had he meant it when he called her beautiful, or was he just trying to flatter her into sleeping with him?

Then she thought of Baal, in all of his frustrating complexity. His mouth quirking up at the corners when he smiled. His rare, precious moments of tenderness. His arms trembling as he strained to pull her up out of the abyss. His face, pale and dusty and slack in unconsciousness, under the rubble in the catacombs. Sitting shirtless by the fire, laughing helplessly at her stories. His glare piercing through her when she had earned his anger. The contrition in his voice as he apologized for being thoughtless.

She wanted him so much it hurt, and there was nothing that she could do about it but stay a shadow at his side, watching him from the other side of the mirror.

If Baal's presence was like a burning iron in her heart, then Caesar was a salve to relieve the pain, a bandage to cover the wound, a way to feel needed and desirable. She didn't love him, didn't even really know him, but perhaps she didn't have to. Perhaps it was enough, for now, to know that should she want him, the wizard would be there. She need not necessary seek him out, but she need not avoid him either. Whatever was meant to happen would happen.

Feeling much more secure, she drifted mindlessly for a while, dwelling in the pulse of blood though her veins and wandering the slender halls of her bones. When at last she emerged from her meditation, the fire had burned down nearly to ashes and the sky was dotted with stars. Baal had not yet returned.

Concerned – several _hours_ must have passed, at least, since he departed – Saiya flung out her tendrils of awareness, covering a circle of forest nearly a mile in circumference. Baal's lifeforce was nowhere to be found. For a moment, old fears preyed on her mind, and she contemplated the possibility that he did not meant to come back, and had actually abandoned her here in this ailing wasteland.

Then the trust that they had built between them reinstated itself, and true worry replaced her paranoia. Baal was a skilled hunter; there was no reason for him to be taking this long to catch their dinner. Therefore, he must have run into trouble … an ambush, maybe. More ghouls, or worse, the cultists. Even now he might be lying wounded in the woods somewhere, unable to walk.

Saiya did not hesitate even for a moment. She banked up the fire, counting on the flickering flame to lead her back to the camp, armed herself, and crossed the barrier, striking out into the dark. She maintained a constant awareness of her surroundings as she walked, searching for her lost companion.

The marsh was treacherous in the daylight, and doubly so when she could not see more than a few paces ahead. Branches slapped against her face and arms, leaving stinging welts. Vines tangled around her ankles, and she tripped more than once, landing on her knees in the soft mud. And there were the noises: trees groaning as they scraped together, sounding like the death rattle of an enormous beast; the hushed wingbeats of a flying creature, and the final scream of its prey as it struck; and other sounds as well, hoots and squeals, rustles and chirps, and the squelch of the swamp as it sucked greedily at her feet.

She estimated that twenty minutes had elapsed before she finally sensed the maelstrom of hatred and discipline that was Baal's own unique signature. He was off to the left, moving slowly. She turned in that direction and broke into a run, calling his name as she went. After a few moments, she received a reply.

"Saiya? Where the hell are you?"

"Stay there!" she yelled back. She could see him now between the trees, down in a grassy glade. The weapons on his back glinted in the faint light of the stars. He turned his head, his gaze sweeping the woods, looking for her. His eyes glowed like twin coals.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked sharply as she pulled up, breathless, in front of him. "Skipping around the forest at this time of night. Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"Where have you _been_?" she countered. "You should have returned hours ago! I was really worried."

He held up a pair of rabbits whose legs dangled limply. "Sorry. I had to go clear to the western edge of the wood before I found anything worth eating. There's nothing but rats, toads, and flies in this place, and all of them look like they're on the verge of death."

"I noticed that too," she said. "There's a sickness over this place. The sooner we can leave, the better,"

Teeth flashed in the darkness as Baal gave his unmistakable predatory grin. "Well then, you'll be pleased to know that I found a spot that seems worth checking out. A bit south of here, there's a hill with a huge stone face carved into it. The mouth appears to lead into a cave. There was a pretty strong smell of demon in the area. I'll wager you anything that at least one of the keys we're looking for is in there."

"Do you think you can find it again?" Saiya asked.

"Of course!" he replied confidently. "Now let's get back to camp. I'm starving."

The fire was still burning strong when they finally trudged through the ankle-deep water and pushed through the underbrush to their temporary home. Saiya took one of Baal's knives and cut some spits from among the nearby willow saplings, while the demon hunter skinned and gutted the rabbits. To supplement the lean meat he wrapped apples in leaves and set them in the coals to roast.

There was not much conversation while they ate. Baal was courteous but aloof, and Saiya did not feel like making the effort required to break through his shell. As soon as she had eaten her fill she lay back on her bedroll and closed her eyes. Baal went off into the marsh to dispose of the bones and offal, and when he returned he settled into his customary sitting position.

He was silent for so long that Saiya thought he'd fallen asleep, and was beginning to drift of herself. Then his voice came softly out of the shadows.

"Saiya? You awake?"

"Hmm," she affirmed.

"I'm glad that you decided not to go with Caesar."

"So am I," she mumbled.

"Good night."

"Night, Baal."

Silence. Then, "Sleep well."

"Mmm, you too." And she was gone, lost to the world of dreams.

DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII DIII

The following morning, Saiya woke early with pain gnawing at her stomach. In addition she was nauseous, her head ached, and she felt as if she had not slept at all. At first she was afraid that Baal had not gone far enough in his search for healthy game, and that the rabbit from the previous night had been tainted. Then, upon venturing into the forest to relieve herself, she discovered that her shorts were stained red.

Cursing, she realized that she must have forgotten to take the special herbal pills she carried that would both stop her menstruation and prevent her from getting pregnant should she have sex. It was too late now; she would have to finish her cycle before she could ingest the next dose. This was aggravating, for not only was she in poor condition to fight, but the scent of her blood would draw demons like bees to honey.

Baal was lighting the fire again when she returned, choosing the resin-filled woods that burned hottest rather than the denser, long-lasting ones. Once the flames leaped high enough to satisfy him, he took out the cooking pot, filled it with water from the marsh, and set it to boil.

"We'll need drinking water today," he explained.

Saiya unwrapped all her bandages and checked the wounds to verify that none of them had become infected. To her relief, the damaged flesh was a healthy color, and seemed to be healing well. She applied more salve and left the bindings off so the cuts could get some air. Then she took some of the extra cloth and retreated into the privacy of the bushes so that she could fix up a temporary pad to prevent the blood from soaking through her shorts.

By that time, Baal had set the sanitized water aside in bowls to cool off, and had the pot bubbling again. He broke some of their stale bread into pieces, which he dropped into the steaming liquid. To this concoction he added a sliced apple and shredded jerky. The result was a thick porridge that, while it appeared unappetizing, did not taste terrible.

After eating they packed up but left their campsite intact, on the off chance that their search for the temple keys would take all day. Baal set a swift pace, but slowed his stride when he realized that Saiya was having a hard time keeping up with him.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

She nodded. "I'm fine, just feeling a little tired today."

He frowned in concern. "Are your injuries bothering you? Maybe you should stay back at camp."

"No way!" she protested. "I'm perfectly all right."

"Whatever you say," he replied doubtfully. As they continued, she noticed that he was extraordinarily attentive, his gaze often straying to her and his hand reaching out to her touch her elbow if she so much as paused. She debated falling deliberately just to see if he would catch her, and then took a moment to laugh at her own foolishness.

Within an hour, they arrived at the cave that Baal had located the previous day. The giant stone face was overgrown with moss and trailing vines, the mouth open in a silent wail. Baal lit a torch and stepped through, ducking his head under the low lintel. Saiya went after him.

Behind the face, a narrow tunnel delved deep into the earth. The walls were earth shored up by rotting beams, and the floor was unpleasantly slimy underfoot. Although the grade was steep, there were no stairs, just a slippery slope that reminded Saiya grotesquely of a human esophagus.

_We're being eaten up by the swamp, _she thought. _Chewed, swallowed, and now digested … _

At last the tunnel widened into a great cavern, with a natural bridge cutting through the center of it. The solid ground dropped away to unknowable depths on either side. Water leaked steadily from the toothed ceiling and made no sound when it fell into the blackness of the abyss.

"Don't go near the edge," Baal cautioned, contradicting his own advice by leaning over and holding the torch out at arm's length. "You wouldn't want to-"

His words were cut short by a whistling noise and a soft _thunk_, followed by Baal's muffled grunt of surprise and pain. The torch slipped from his hand and plunged into the chasm, leaving them in near total darkness.

Saiya crouched just as a second whistle split the air, passing just over her shoulder. She instinctively kept her mouth closed, guessing that whatever was attacking them was using sound to pinpoint their location. She could hear Baal' labored breathing close by and she felt blindly around. Her outstretched fingers ran into his chest, and moved up towards his shoulder, where she encountered something that should not have been there: a hard, narrow object embedded in his flesh. An arrow. Baal flinched when she touched it, and she jerked away.

"Baal, are you badly injured?" she whispered.

"I'll live," he replied, his voice tight.

"What should we do?"

He thought for a moment. "Use your bell."

"But I don't know where they are!"

"You'll have to use your intuition."

"No," she said. "I've got a better idea. Can you still fight?"

"Yes."

"Good. On the count of three, I'm going to cast the most powerful shielding mantra I know and hold it for as long as possible. Hopefully it will glow bright enough to reveal our foes. You stand behind me, and I'll move forward. That should protect us from enemy fire while you pick them off. All right?"

"Do it," he said.

Under her breath Saiya began to chant the sacred words that the head monk had taught her: _"Taiyoh no inori … ensoh … kabe … hikari … kago … shiirudo … gekitai suru gai …"* _She intoned them over and over again, growing in volume, as the energy from the mantra began to build around her. Rippling silver light spread out over the ground in an intricate design, and shot upwards to form a glittering curtain.

Looking down, she saw Baal lying on his side, clutching his right shoulder where the shaft stuck out, ugly and intrusive. Her heart twisted, but she did not allow the mantra to falter. Her friend got to his feet and stood close at her back, holding his favorite crossbow in his left hand.

"There!" he cried. "I see them!"

Further along the natural bridge were a cluster of skeleton archers. They recoiled as the illumination from Saiya's shield reached them, clacking their jaws together in a parody of speech. Several of them drew back their bows and fired, but the arrows crumbled into ash as soon as they entered the sanctified wall.

Baal's bolts, on the other hand, left the shield charged with holy light and decimated the enemy. He aimed for the eye sockets, and in less than a minute the whole group was down, the spirits binding them exorcised. They were once again nothing more than the long-dead bones of ancient people.

As soon as the last archer had fallen, Saiya stopped chanting and the walls collapsed. She swayed, her spiritual energy depleted from the effort of maintaining a constant mantra of such high caliber. Baal stepped forward to support her, only to let out a fervent curse as she jostled his wounded shoulder.

"Let me look," she said, unable to conceal her anxiety. Lighting another torch, she moved around behind him and gasped as she saw the extent of the damage. The arrow had pierced the muscle between his shoulder and clavicle, transfixing the flesh just above his armpit. It protruded a few inches on the other side, the point slick with blood.

"Right. We've got to get that out," she said. "I warn you, it's going to hurt quite a bit."

Baal clenched his teeth, his mouth a grim line. The tendons stood out in his neck as he braced himself. Saiya spread her left hand flat across his back, two fingers on either side of the shaft, and pressed hard, delivering a sharp blow to the arrowhead with her brass knuckles. A suppressed groan escaped from Baal's throat. The metal point clattered on the stone.

Saiya inspected her handiwork. It was a clean break, the wooden shaft snapped at a slight angle. That was good.

"All right," she said. "I'm going to pull it out now."

"Mm-hm," he mumbled.

Holding his shoulder steady, she gripped just below the fletching and tugged it free in one smooth movement. Baal gave a sharp cry. Blood leaked from the newly-opened hole, and Saiya hastened to undo the clasps on his shirt and bare his shoulder so she could disinfect and bandage the wound.

"How are you?" she asked.

"Okay," he replied, with the shadow of a grin. "Hopefully there's more down here than angry skeletons. Otherwise … well, they say that ghosts can't be killed, but I'll be sorely tempted to try on that temple guardian."

"Well, let's keep going," Saiya said. "When I cast the mantra, I thought I could see the far wall of the cave."

She was correct; not thirty paces further in they happened upon an altar placed before another massive visage carved into the rock. It seemed a popular motif in the ancient culture whose temples they were currently invading.

The altar top appeared empty, but as they approached a glowing blue orb about the size of a man's head appeared. The surface was spinning like a whirlpool, and it emitted a low-frequency humming sound.

"Do you think that this is the key Alaric told us about?" Saiya asked.

"I'm not sure," Baal said, chewing indecisively at his lip.

"Maybe I should touch it and see what happens." She reached out, but he grabbed her wrist.

"No, I'll do it. We don't know what might happen."

"Baal-" she protested, touched in spite of herself. He ignored her and put his left hand over the sphere. It gravitated instantly to his palm. A flash of light blinded them for a moment, and when they opened their eyes the orb had vanished. But when Baal turned his hand over, there was a bluish mark branded into his palm, in the shape of two triangles, one pointed up and the other down, with a solid dot in the space between.

"I recognize this sign," he said, awe evident in his tone. "This is the symbol of the Nephalem – the outcasts spurned by heaven and hell alike. I believe we've found our first key."

"Where did it go?" Saiya asked, bewildered.

"I think I'm carrying it."

Tentatively, she touched the mark on his skin. It was warm under her fingertips. "Does it hurt?" she asked.

"No. It tickles a bit, that's all."

"I wonder where the second one is."

"Probably somewhere in the woods, in another place like this one. Let's go back out, and we'll continue searching in the other direction. I'm hoping that we might make it back to the temple by evening."

"We're running out of supplies," Saiya reminded him. "Our food stores are very low, and medicines aren't doing too well either. We'll need to return to New Tristram after we enter the temple, regardless of whether there's a sword piece there or not."

"There is," Baal said. "I could smell it."

Unpleasant though the forest was, it was a good deal nicer than the dank cave. Saiya wiped the slime from the passageway off her feet and took a few measured sips of the water than Baal had boiled up that morning. It had a vaguely metallic taste, but at least it was clean.

"Which way, then?" she asked, sweeping her hand to indicate the woodlands around them. Baal pointed east, and they set off, keeping the pace easy to accommodate for their injuries and general weariness.

It took them longer to find the second cave, primarily because it was hidden deep in the most tangled part of the wood, where the path disappeared entirely and they were forced to bushwhack their way through thick underbrush and wade into waist-high water. Fortunately they had spotted their destination from the top of a low hill, and consequently knew that there was a reward waiting at the end of the arduous trek.

The entrance once again was the gaping mouth of a stone face, but instead of a cave the tunnel took them down into the man-carved passages of an old quarry. Rusted mining equipment was in evidence: shovels and pickaxes, ladders and wheelbarrows, buckets attached to pulleys descending into mineshafts. There were sconces built into the walls at regular intervals, although the torches had long since decayed.

They were on their guard as they walked the roughly hewn corridors, expecting another ambush, but the quarry was deserted. At the end, in the very bottom of the great pit, was the altar that held the temple key. Saiya insisted on claiming this one, and it absorbed into her hand just as it had done to Baal.

It was only a few hours after noon when at last they emerged, triumphant, into the sunshine. Saiya was concerned that they would not be able to find their way back to the road that would lead them south again, but Baal waved a dismissive hand.

"Remember what Alaric said: follow the sun. We need only do the same in the other direction, and we won't go astray."

Sure enough, before long the woods around them began to show shades of green again, wildflowers bloomed, and they were treading on dry dusty earth instead of the soggy, reeking mud. Saiya was so overjoyed to be out of the tainted forest that she temporarily forgot her exhaustion and ran ahead, whooping aloud in elation.

"Slow down, kid!" Baal called, but when she looked back he too was smiling.

"Why don't _you _hurry up, grandpa?" she teased. "Unless your venerable legs can't go any faster."

"I'll show you fast!" he growled indignantly, and within moments he had caught up to her. She dashed away again, laughing. They were neck and neck for a few minutes, until she put on a sudden burst of speed. As she passed him by, he stuck a foot out and tripped her. She tumbled into a forward roll and landed clumsily on her back in the long grass.

"Oops, sorry," Baal said, standing over her with his hands on his hips.

"You did that on purpose, because I was winning," she grumbled.

He made an exaggeratedly shocked face. "Never!"

"Yes, you did."

"And how are you going to prove that?" he taunted, offering her a hand up. She took it, and started to sit up, then reversed the direction and yanked on his arm as hard as she could. With a startled yelp he stumbled forward and fell on top of her. She took sinful pleasure in their proximity for a few brief seconds before he picked himself up.

"Sorry," she said, with an impish smile "That was an accident."

Baal rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. Well, that's the last time I try to be helpful. You can get up by yourself."

Chuckling, she did, but she must have put too much weight on her injured leg, for it gave a painful twinge that nearly caused her to fall again. Baal caught her just in time, the smile dropping abruptly from his mouth.

"I'm fine," she said, correcting her balance. "Just stepped on it wrong. It was probably foolish of me to run around like that."

"Do you need to lean on me?" he asked.

It was tempting, but Saiya sternly resisted the urge to take full advantage of the situation. It would not help her resolve to get over her obsession with the demon hunter if she were to make use of every chance to get close to him. She shook her head and started walking, doing her best to mask her limp.

They would have walked right past the hidden pathway to the temple if Lyndon hadn't come bursting out of the closely-woven trees. He had shed his heavy longcoat, and his linen shirt was partially undone, exposing the rather hirsute chest beneath. Saiya reflected that she preferred the smoother look, with only a light patch of hair: like Baal … or, her brain traitorously reminded her, Caesar.

"Hey!" Lyndon exclaimed. "I've been watching for you two all day! What's taken you so long?"

"That's a story for later," Baal said. "Has everything been peaceful here? No sign of Maghda?"

"Nary a flutter," said the rogue. "Looks like you two have had some trouble, though."

"You can say that again," Saiya said with a sigh. "Gods, I'm dying for a bath and a good solid meal."

"You'll have to wait a little while longer," said Baal. He was businesslike again, all the humor gone from his eyes. "I want to talk to Alaric."

Lyndon trailed after them as they strode along the trail to the courtyard. Sasha was sitting by the fire, frying some fish in a pan. She waved, giving them a friendly smile, and Saiya nodded in return.

Alaric rose up from the lake almost as soon as they set foot on the stairs. His facial expression were difficult to read, but Saiya thought that he seemed excited.

"Place the beacons," he instructed them, indicating two pedestals on either side of the walkway with a hand that flickered with blue flame.

"Ready?" Baal asked.

"I'm ready," Saiya confirmed. She went to one of the pedestals and Baal stood beside the other. In unison they raised their marked hands, and the twin orbs transferred from their palms to the carved pillars, which promptly sank down into the ground beneath. Saiya watched in amazement as section of stone rose up out of the algae-strewn waters of the lake, linking together to form a bridge.

"Go forth, brave warriors," Alaric said gravely. "The real test is now at hand."

*** Baal called Caesar a 'rat-fucker'.**

**_* _Translation of Saiya's mantra: **_**'sun's prayer … circle … wall … light … shield … divine protection … repel harm …'** _


End file.
